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HISTORY 



OF 



American Shipping, 



ITS PRESTIGE, DECLINE. AND PROSPECT. 



> = 



3 



BY 



AUTHOR OF "OUE MEECUANT MARINE," *' AMEEICAN OE FOREIGN SHIPS; WHICH?'* 
"AMERICAN STATISTICAL REVIEW," ETC. 




New York. 

trade supplied by 

THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY, 

February, 1883. 




Entered aecorcling to Act of Congress, January, 1883, by 

CHARLES S. HILL, 

in the OflQce of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



Stereotyped and Printed 

By JUDD &^DETWEILEU, 

Was:iingto.v, D. C. 



CONTENTS of PART I. 



Page. 

INSCRIPTION 5 

ACCEPTANCE 7 

INTRODUCTORY 11-12 

BRIEF 14 

ARGUMENT 15-200 

Divisions thereof 15 

PRESTIGE :— 1631-1856. 

Review of Amercan Shipping conditions 15-17 

Chronological Record, 1492-1882 18-104 

Origin of Navigation Laws; causes thereof 23-26 

Origin of Steam Navigation 27-32 

Advantages and disadvantages presented by Jefferson 33-37 

"History repeated" in depredations upon our Commerce 38 

Inauguration of daily steamboat traffic 39-42 

Heroic enterprise in establishing River Steam Shipping 43-44 

The First Great Epoch in American Shipping 45-49 

The grand enterprise in establishing Ocean Steam-shipping 50-54 

A noble record of the Democratic Party 56-62 

The Second Epoch in American Shipping 63-65 

The Third Epoch in American Shipping 68 

The Financial Gain to the U. S. Treasury by Steamship Bounty-58-62-74 

DECLINE :— 1857-1882. 

Fickle Action of Congress Demoralizing American Shipping 65-69 

Vicissitudes of Ship-owners under discouraging conditions 70-71 • 

Perseverence and firmness of a heroic few 72-73 

V The Age of Iron 75-92 

Misrepresentations of Foreign Agents 92-97 

Record of Prestige — 98 

Remarkable " Questions " or Assertions of the Joint Select Com- 
mittee ,- 99-101 

OUR SHIPPING CONDITIONS ANALYZED 102-180 

Burden— - 105-184 

(Actual.) 

Pilotage Fees . 106-107 

Towage Fees 107-108 

Port Warden Fees 108 

Harbor Master Fees 109 

Wharfage Fees 109-112 

Custom House Fees 112-113 

Tonnage Fees 113-115 

Se^iman's Fees 115-117 

Marine Hospital Fees 117 

Admeasurement Fees 118 

Postal Restriction Fees 119-120 

Local Fees 120 

Consular Fees 121-126 

Shipping Commissioner's Fees 126-127 

Insurance Combination 128 

(Nominal.) 

Lighthouse Fees 128-129 

Customs Tariff 129-13 1 

Navigation Law Restrictions 131-133 

(3) 



IV CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Shipbuilding cost compared 133-144 

Rates of life of American ships 146-147 

" Free " or Tramp Ships 147 

Recapitulation of Burdens 148 

Total Amount of Fees Paid 148 

Bounty 149-166 

Earnings 152-153 

Tribute 153_163 

Booty to British Shipbuilding, Merchants, Workmen, Suppliers, etc_ 167-180 

Free Ships 170-171 

Foreign Lobby 171 

Ship Repairing 172 

Inconsistencies of Congress 172-173 

Mail vs. Packet 174-177 

Spoils of Warfare and the Spoils of Peace 177-183 

PROSPECT :— 1884— " Americans shall own ships." 185-189 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



FKES^IG:E»— 1631-1856 

Page. 

Hon. James G. Blaine 9 

The Mayflower 10 

Archetype of American Shipping 12 

Caravels of Columbus 19 

The Second Ship built by American Colonists 20 

The First Successful Steamboat in the World 29 

The American Galley Slave 35 

The Second Successful Steamboat in the World 39 

Robert Fulton 40 

Robert Livingston Stevens 41 

The First English Steamboat — 25 years behind America 42 

William Wilson 45 

American Clipper — Great Republic 47 

The First Steamboat that Crossed the Ocean . 51 

E. K. Collins - 59 

Heroes of American Shipping Go 

BE)C£IN;E.— 1857-1882. 

The Adriatic — The Greatest Steamship of her Day 64 

James Buchanan Houston 67 

City of Peking— The Finest Ship Afloat 68 

Thomas Tileston, Founder of the Dramatic Line 73 

Wm. Cramp 78 

New Ironside — The Death Monster 79 

John Roach 81 

The Cause of American Shipping Declining 97 

False Economy 103 

Samuel Harlan— The Pioneer Iron Shipbuilder of the U. S. 139 

The Asylum for Tramp Ships 149 

A Victim of Foreign Subsidy and U. S. Postal Regulations 157 

Labor Struck Down by Free Ships 167 

The Eflfort to destroy our Navy and Shipping 179 

FEtaSFECT .— 1884. 

"American Shipping shall be Revived!'' 189 



TO 

THE HON. JOHN T. MORGAN, U. S. S., 

THE ADVOCATE OF 

AGRICULTURE, [MANUFACTURE, CO^II^IERCE, 

AND OF THE 

DISSEMINATION OF PRACTICAL 

KNOWLEDGE ; 

ASSOCIATED BY TIES OF SANGUINARY STRUGGLES 

AND 

FALLEN FRIENDS 
ON- 
MANY CONFEDERATE BATTLE FIELDS, 

AND NOW 

RECOGNIZING WITPI APPRECIATION HIS ASSISTANCE 
RECENTLY AND OFFICIALLY, 



ALTHOUGH NOT EXPECTING NOR ASKING 

HIS FULI, 

ENDORSEMENT OF THE REFLECTIONS 

MADE HEREIN UPON THE NEGLECT 

OF 

CONGRESS, 

IN 
ACTION AND NON-ACTION IN BEHALF 

OF 

AMERICAN SHIPPING, 

YET KNOWING THE 

ZEAL, PRIDE, HOPE, AND AIM, 

THAT NOW ANIMATES EVERY SOUTHERN COMRADE 

IN THE DETERMINATION TO UNFURL ONCE MORE 

UPON THE SEAS 

THE AMERICAN FLAG, 

THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. 



UNITED STATES SENATE, 

Washington, D. C, February 9, 1883. 

My Dear Sir : I cannot feel that I am deserving of the high com- 
pliment bestowed on me in the inscription of your book on American 
Shipping, but I greatly prize your good opinion as expressed. 

The allusion to our participation in the Confederate struggle touches 
a chord that will vibrate in ni)' heart as long as life shall last, and will 
overwhelm all discordant sounds that might otherwise disturb the harmony 
of our songs of sorrow and of joy. 

I fear that we shall not fully agree as to the best method of 
restoring to the seas our banished commerce ; but as we are working 
heartily to secure the same great end our differences as to the proper 
policy to be observed in securing it will not separate us in our labors. 

I, therefore, gratefuly accept the honor you have done me, and with 
the best wishes for your success in this and all the other great labors you 
are bestowing on industrial topics. 

I am, faithfully, your friend, 

Jno. T. Morgan. 



(7) 



THE 



STATESMAN DEFENDER 



OF 



AMERICAN SHIPPING 




JAMES GILLESPIE BLAINE. 



" Steam Mail Lines : Keys with which wise Statesmen open 
Foreign Ports to Maritime Commerce." 

(Banquet Toast of the New York Chamber of Commerce to Hon. James G. Blaine, Mayl3, 1879.) 



THE 

AVANT COURIER 

OF 

AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 




THE MAYFLOWER, 

180 TONS, 

Arrived Plymouth Rock with the Pilgrims, 
Deceiijber' 22, 1620. 



See pages 16, 18. 



(10) 



INTRODUCTORY. 



On the 7th of August last a Joint Select Committee was ap- 
pointed under the following resolution of Congress : 

" That a joint select committee of three Senators and six Kepresentatives be 
appointed to inquire into the condition and wants of American ship-building and 
ship-owning interests, and to investigate the causes of the decline of the American 
foreign carrying trade, and to suggest any remedies which may be applied by 
legislation. Said committee shall have authority to sit during the recess^ and shall 
submit their report at the opening of the second session of the 47th Congress," &c. 

Approved August 8, 1882. 

The above had hardly been telegraphed (on August 9th) to all 
parts of the countr}^ and to every patriotic heart, together with 
the announcement of the appointment of statesmen to that Com- 
mittee whose names were hailed with delight and satisfaction, 
before the New York evening papers, only two days after, 
(August 11th,) announced, not the organization of that Com- 
mittee, but the happening of " one or two " members in N"ew 
York, and, instead of sitting and studying into such conditions 
" during the recess " of Congress, a postponement until two weeks 
before its reassembling — with some dialogue queries appended — 
was announced. In a six-days^ session this great politico-econ- 
omic Industry was considered, investigated, studied, compre- 
hended, and at once prepared and reported to Congress. 

It was to be supposed, and indeed trusted, that the trouble 
was mastered, and that the evils existing would be destroyed. 

The writer of this historical argument prepared the same very 
hurriedly after seeing some repetitions of stereotyped gross mis- 
representations, made in evidence presented, to offer in rebuttal; 
but the book of evidence, good or bad, perfect or imperfect, was 
completed and sealed. 

The idea of requiring or allowing more than the same number 
of days for studying the decline of American Shipping than it did 
for creating " the heavens, the earth, the waters, and all that 
therein is," was preposterous. Hence it is submitted to the 
public as another commentary upon the character of Congres- 
sional investigation into the condition of Our Merchant Marine. 

(11) 



12 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

The hurried work of the Committee has unfortunately been in 
vain ; the names of some of its members will live forever in the 
hearts of the American people for their patriotic efforts, while 
the names of others — whether justly or not — will be associated 
hereafter with the foreign interests they protected, and for which 
apparent sympathy therewith their own words and actions are 
alone responsible. 

Durinof the three months' Session of Cono;ress the " Prestisre " 
of American Shipping was reviewed in terms of glowing elo- 
quence by a few faithful patriots ; 

its " Decline " was harped upon in harmonic accord of unan- 
imous chorus ; 

its " Prospect '*' was moderately promised by the provisions 
presented for enactment to the United States Senate, at mid- 
night Saturday, March 3, last ; but alas ! that '• Prospect " was 
effaced by those from whom the American people expected a bet- 
ter record, in frittering away time in vainless efforts to vote 
" a salary to a defeated Congressional contestant,'^ while the chimes 
of the Holy Service of Sunday morning (March 4) were tolling, 
as it were, the sad requiem of this •' national *' default on the 
part of our dying Legislature. 

This argument is therefore given to the people that the true con- 
ditions of American Shipping may be more generally understood, 
and that the truth, sown broadcast, may bring forth in the next 
Congress wisdom and action in reviving the "Prestige*' of the 
carrying trade of our country. c. s. h. 



THE ARCHETYPE OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 




BIRCH BARK CANOE. 

And to xchich condition " Free Ship " agents would have us return! 



PART FIRST. 



CONDITION OF OUR SHIPPING 



FOREIGN CARRYING TRADE 



DIVISION OF ARGUMENT. 

Burden — that weighs down American Shipping. 

Bounty — that fosters our competitors and enables them to drive off 

American Ships. 
Booty — that is divided, in ridicule of American enterprise, by those 
who advocate the patronage of foreign ships. 

(13) 



BRIEF 



Cause of Argument. 



Appointment of Joint Select Comnaittee of Congress to 
examine into and revive American Shipping. 

Synopsis of — 

Committee's Questions promulgated — " Wiiy cannot we 
build iron, steel, and wooden vessels like England ?" — 
and if not, why not give up to foreign Industry ? (See 
subsequent pages.) 

Proof. 

1. Americans revolutionized the world in sailing vessels. 

2. Americans revolutionized the world in application of 

steam to navigation on rivers. 

3. Americans revolutionized the world in coasting steam 

navigation. 

4. Americans revolutionized the world in transit of the 

ocean steam navigation. 

5. Americans revolutionized the world in ITaval ships. 

6. Americans revolutionized the world in yacht shipping. 

7. Americans now build the finest, safest, and most com- 

plete iron steamships in the world. 

Result. 

American shipbuilding gives employment to every trade. 

Americans will not submit much longer to misrepresen- 
tation of Agents of Foreig'n Shipping. 

(14) 



ARGUMENT. 



AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



Washington, November 21, 1882. 
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the 

Joint Select Committee on American Shipping: 

There is nothing that proves more truthfully the old proverb 
that "History repeats itself," than the existence of your Commit- 
tee. 

From the inception of our Government to the present time, 
innumerable acts of Congress have created committees to investi- 
gate the condition of American Shipping, and to devise means of 
protecting and benefiting this greatest of Industries. 

Then why has this periodical repetition of investigation for a 
long century been necessary ? 

It may be assumed, unquestionably, that your able body will 
concede — 

1st. That a Nation's shipping is an indispensable influence in 
national and international relations. 

2d. That American shipping has generally involved loss of 
capital. 1 

3d. That the American Government cannot coerce our capi- 
talists into financial loss — except through their enthusiasm for 
national honor and industry — hence our national dilemaia. 

It is not proposed in this argument to extend sympathy, nor to 
withhold blame for our humiliating condition ; but, ignoring theo- 
rists and biased views, to show from official records where the fault 
rests. There are, in fact, only three divisions of this subject, viz : 

Burden ! Bounty ! ! and Booty ! ! ! 

which will be herewith thoroughly examined and presented in 
order; but it is first necessary to preface such examination with an 
insight into past history to properly connect causes and results. 
The prophetic words of Lord Sheffield, in his " Observations 
on American Commerce," that " the only use and advantage of 
American Colonies, or West India Islands, is the monopoly of 

1 Without national aid. The shipping conditions of other countries arc fully 
given in following pages, see heading Foreign Policies for valuable information. 



16 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

their consumption and the carriage of their products," express 
most truthful!}^ our peculiar condition to-day; and remind us 
that this precept has been the natural incentive to a perpetual 
struggle, through warfare and peace, between our mother-country 
and our own for supremacy in Industry, and for control in carry- 
ing our own produce. 

To judge of the future we must consider the past, and, if 
" history — so persistently — repeats itself," we must be guarded in 
applying our experience of the past to our developed condition of 
to-day. 

Ship-building was the first Industry of our country — the object 
of envy and condemnation of the British nation. Perhaps the 
Mayflower, being a small " free ship " of only 180 tons, brought 
us bad luck in 1620, or it may be that its coming, so power- 
fully patronized, has influenced and confused our statesmen as 
to the identity of our own ofispring of industry with the orphan 
^' free" (or foreign) ship, for our own has been treated during the 
last quarter of a century or more, like a discarded child, while the 
most fondling and unnatural interest has been given to foster- 
ing the foundling of foreign birth; so much so that the Hon. 
Mr. Frye, in asking the creation of a commission as a foster 
parentage of the American ship, reflects very properly and 
poignantly upon the Nation's record of neglect in words that 
will be remembered forever : 

" It is an orphan really without any orphan's court or guardian. It is a waif 
without a home. It is a tramp to whom nobody is obliged to give cold victuals 
even." 

With the same interest at heart, the Hon. Mr. Dingley intro- 
duced the resolution by which your Committee was called into 
existence. 

It was expected that this severe condemnation of national de- 
fault ; the vital importance of the subject; the deep solicitude 
of the people ; and their confidence in your ability, interest, and 
patriotism, manifested throughout our country, would have forced 
the investigation immediately. 

Whether the delay in this respect — and the unseemly hurry 
now — has been right or wrong, is not the purpose of this argument; 
but in view of the evident uncertainty as to the national rela- 
lationship of our country to our ships, and as to its hereditary ties 
and claims in the transmission from our forefathers of their 
industrial qualities and patriotic struggles for the maintenance of 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 17 

their commercial interest and national honor, it is not only proper 
but necessary to establish the identity between parent and child 
by tracing the lineage of the American ship to American inheri- 
tance. With such object in view the following synoptical record 
has been prepared : 

Both of the political parties in Congress are confused as to this 
identity, or they are cowardly shirking this greatest economic 
question of the day; each is afraid to do what is necessary and 
right; neither dares to take the noble, bold stand of the Polk 
Administration, with such far-sightedness as recorded in 1845, 
and presented herewith in chronological order. 

While foreign nations are fully aroused and acting, our states- 
men are disputing, quibbling, misrepresenting, and ignoring the 
seriousness of the question, while France, Germany, and Italy 
are acting in energy, imitative of that wise policy so long con- 
tinued by the far-sighted statesmen of Great Britain. 

At a recent session of Parliament the representative of the 
British Board of Admiralty, Mr. Trevelyan, admonished that 
body as follows : 

" The maritime supremacy of Britain is not to be challenged 
by France alone in the future, for the President of the United 
States has asked Congress for a liberal grant wherewith to lay 
the foundations of a new and formidable navy." 

The Nautical Journal of London sounds an unnecessary, we 
fear, tocsin of alarm about American action in behalf of our child 
of the sea, as follows : 

"British ship-builders and owners cannot regard with uncon- 
cern the apparently systematic effort of the Republican party in 
the United States to signalize its restoration to legislative control 
by reviving the policy which proved so disastrous to British ship- 
ping interests from 3852 to 1858." 

Oh, that the Republican or Democratic parties would have the 
courage to imitate the Polk Administration in the example es- 
tablished at that time, with such remarkable financial results in 
surplus of funds to our Post Office Department as President 
Polk shows.i 

To avoid error or confusion as to the history and identity of 
our ships, as Senator Frye justly reflects, let us review events 
in the history of our shipping and then consider what is our duty. 

2h ^ See subsequent pages, in order (1845 to 1850) for this record. 



18 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

Tear. Chronological Record. ^ 

1492. Columbus landed with vessels of small tonnage, only one 
of which possessed a deck. 

1517. The Biscayans of Spain, and the Basques and Bas Bretons of 
France, we are told by Jefferson, were the first adven- 
turers with fishing fleets on our northern coasts ; as many 
as "fifty ships being seen atone time." 

1577. The French had 150, the Spaniards 100, the Portuguese 
50, the English only 15 ships in American waters. 

1607. The "Virginia " was built on the coast of Maine, the year 
of the first settlement, Virginia, and afterwards plied 
regularly across the Atlantic, although only of 30 tons/ 

1609. Henr}^ Hudson entered the " Manhattan " river in the ser- 

vice of the Dutch, commanding the ship " Half Moon." 

1610. Lord Delaware found four sailing-vessels at i^orfo'ik, the Vir- 

ginia, Discovery, Patience, and Deliverance ; but the sec- 
ond was British, and the last two West Indian — thus pre- 
saging a foreign monopoly in the history of our shipping. 

1614. The " Onrust" was built by Block, a Knickerbocker. 

1616. England sent over eight ships from London and Plymouth 
for trading purposes. Capt. John Smith built several 
ships for fishing. 

1620. The " Mayflower," of 180 tons, landed, December 22, at 
Plymouth Rock, with the Pilgrim Fathers — the avant 
courier of "Free Ships." 

1622. The Plymouth Company complained of abuses on their 
coast. 

1629. The Massachusetts Bay Compan}-, of London, sent ship- 

wright emigrants to Kew England, headed by Robert 
Moulton. 

1630. " Shallops," small boats of 20 tons and two masts, w^ere 

common and popular. 

1631. The " Blessing of the Bay " was built on the Mystic river, 

owned principally by Gov. Winthrop, and highly valued. 

1635. The great shipping name of HoUingsworth first became fa- 
mous. Richard HoUingsworth, it seems, built the first 
ships of as heavy tonnage as three hundred tous. 

^Prepared from several authorities and incidental records. 



THE 



'XARAVELS" 

OF 

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 



WITH NINETY MEN 



COMING TO AMERICA 




NlS^A. 



SANTA MARIA. 



Sailed from Spain Friday, August 3, 1492. 
Arrived at San Salvador, Friday, October 12, 1492, 



(19) 



PBBBI 



ONE OF THE FIRST SHIPS 

BUILT IN NEW YORK HARBOR. 

1614=. 




THE "ONRUST,'^ OR *« RESTLESS.'^ 

BUILT BY ADRIEN BLOCK, ON MANHATTAN ISLAND. 

(Knickerbocker Type.) 
See page 16. 

It is recorded that the four huts made by Bldok for his men were the first set- 
tlements on the lower part of the Island. 

Block sailed up the Sound towards Cape Cod, in the Fishery Industry, and 
rested on the land that still bears his name—" Block Island." (See Coastwise 
Shipping— Fisheries.) 

(20) 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 21 

1640. Rev. Hugh Peters, of Massachusetts, became noted as a 
great advocate of " home shipbuilding" — may his name 
live forever in the history of his country and in the 

hearts of our people ! 

1643. William Stephens, a shipbuilder, astonished the Colonists 
and the British by building ships of over 500 tonnage at 
Gloucester. 

1646. Application of the Navigation Laws of England to Colo- 
nial shipbuilding. Here begins the remarkable jealousy 
of Great Britain toward the rapid development of our 
great shipbuilding Industry. 

1651. British Navigation Laws were again increased in severit}-, 
called the "Famous Act," aimed at Dutch and Colonial 
shipping. Newburyport becomes a shipbuilding yard. 

1660. The act of 1651 made more severe by increased restric- 
tions against American shipbuilding and trading. 

1663. " Monopoly " begins its bistory in Colonial trade by British 
aggrandizement ; notwithstanding which, shipping 
thrives at Salem and Rowley. 

1686. New York city incorporated, with a shipping interest of ten 
vessels, and tonnage of less than 100 tons each, and 
about 200 barks of less than 50 tons each. 

1710. Contentions began between American, British, French, 
and Dutch seamen in the fishing industry ot our coasts. 

1714. The first " schooner" built at Cape Ann, by Capt. Andrew 
Robinson. 

As early as 1730 the Merchant Marine of the American Colo- 
nies began to develop so rapidly that commercial jealousy caused 
England to impose severe tonnage dues, taxes, and restrictions 
upon Colonial Shipping. 

In 1750 there was held in London a public meeting to " pro- 
mote British shipping and navigation," the object being to pre- 
vent ships owned by native Colonists from being employed in the 
carrying trade between the American Colonial coast and Great 
Britain. 

In a cursory review of the history of events relating to Ameri- 
can shipping that followed, and that led to our Navigation Laws, 
it is only necessary to recall the "Act of Parliament in 1765," 



22 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

restricting the exportation of Colonial products, and prohibiting 
imports and exports, except in British ships. 

The " Tax Stamp Act" followed the same year, and the first and 
early denunciation by the American people of taxation for the 
benefit of foreign shipping was made emphatic on the arival in 
jSTew^ York of the " Tax Stamps," by seizure and consignment to 
the flames; and later, in 1774, by the seizure in Boston of tea 
consigned to merchants at that port. 

This brief review brings us to the struggle for Independence 
on the seas as well as at home. 

It was for the parental right of the American ship that our 
Fathers fought, and yet to-day it is declared " an orphan !" 

Before the creation of our Government, the greater portion o 
the Shipping of the American Colonies was owned by mer- 
chants of Great Britain, as will be seen in comparison with our 
present ratio, as follows : 

Year. Ratio of foreign ownership. Ratio of home ownership. 

The Colonies 1 1770 Five-eighths Three-eighths 

The United States 2- 1882 Eighty-five one hundredths. Fifteen one hundredths. 

Thus we are forced to look upon a proportionate deterioration 
more mortifying than we would suppose, even with the knowl- 
edge of our decadence continually in our mind. 

There has never been a time, during the long period of two 
centuries, since the far-sighted Sheffield's prediction, that the 
British Government has not watched, with eagle eye, the 
progress and decline of our varying fortunes in this industrial 
development. 

Our American State Papers (commencing with Volume 1) 
record fully and frequentl}^ the endeavors of British cruisers to 
control even our coasting trade, and *' to restrain, generally, our 
commerce in corn and other provisions." 

It hardly needs to be repeated here that "the abuse of privi- 
leges in our harbors" and the aid contributed by the (so-called) 
Tories " to depredations upon our ships and upon those of the 
French,^ led to the enacting of our Navigation Laws, based 
identically upon those of Great Britain. 



1 Based upon data given by Pitkin and by Seybert. 

2 See following pages. 

3 See official correspondence of Secretary Jefferson and "citizen Genet, Minister 
Plenipotentiary of the French Eepublic,'to the citizens of the United States." 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 23 

Petition after petition was presented and urged for the enact- 
ment of navigation laws from States of the North and South. 

The trials of our shippers are indicated in the following ex- 
tracts from such petitions of trade organizations : 

"It is sufficient for us to join our Northern brethren in assert- 
ing that w^e have most severely felt the want of such a navigation 
act as will place our vessels upon an equality with other nations. 

" Charleston, Ajml 2, 1789. 

" Amongst the advantages looked for from the National Gov- 
ernment, is the increase of the shipping and maritime strength 
of the United States of America by laws similar in their nature 
and operation to the British Navigation Act.^ 

" Baltimore, May 4, 1789." 

Here, and from these causes, began this system of committees 
investiofatino^ into the condition of our Merchant Marine. 
On August 7th, 1789, it was — 

'^ Ordered, That a committee be appointed to bring in a bill for 
further encouragement of our commerce, and the protecting of 
the navigation of the United States." 

The Annals of Congress are so full of interestinfy debates on 
this great economic, and so clear, that it is surprising that any 
doubt could exist in the minds of any one as to the cause of the 
"Cr*eation of our Navigation Laws, especially in the writings of 
one who claims to be a friend and expounder of our shipping 
conditions, and it is incomprehensible that any one should be 
misled by the idea that such laws could by any means be associ- 
ated with slavery restrictions. 

The Annals (Yol. II, p. 1685) record the following evidence : 

On the 22d July, 1790, Mr. Goodhue, from the committee ap- 
pointed for the purpose (of framing Navigation Laws) presented 
u hill for^ registering ships or vessels, for regulating those employed in 
the coasting trade and fisheries, and for other purposes, which was 
read twice and committed. ^ 

^See also following pages, under heading "Navigation Laws," for important 
-data. 

2 Since the above was written as an argument for the Joint Select Committee, 
one of its members, the Hon. Mr. Cox, in a speech in Congress, .January 6, upon 
the bill reported by that committee, refers to the work that the writer had in 



24 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



There was, however, no deiinite action taken upon this bill 
until the following session of Congress. 

On December 15, 1790, the House of Representatives, in Com- 
mittee of the Whole — 

'''Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee that a bill 
ought to be brought in for the further encouragement of the 
navigation of the United States." 

And it was — 

''Ordered, That a committee be appointed to prepare and bring^ 
in a bill or bills pursuant to said resolution, and that Messrs, 
Boudinot, Jackson, Tucker, Ashe, Parke, Smith, Clymer, Vin- 
ing, Benson, Sherman, Goodhue, and Foster be of said com-^ 
mittee." 

These were the predecessors of the members of your Joint 
Committee, and the noble and wise patriots who framed and 
made our Navigation Laws. 

As quoted above from American State Papers, it will be seen 
that our Navigation Laws were forced upon our people by the 
collusions between a great number of Tory citizens of the United 
States and the British and " depredations upon our ships." 

mind, and quotes the same as authority to settle the point, without doubt, a& 
follows : Mr. Cox said— 

" It is beyoud doubt that the origin of our navigation laws was a compact, 
with slavery. This, David A. Wells has shown most vividly rn his volume on 
the 'Mercantile Marine.' New England was engaged in shipping and in 
transporting and selling slaves to the South. She desired to hold the monopoly 
of that trade. This she secured for a period, by the extension of the time for the 
extinction of the slave trade to 1808." 

The venerable historian, Mr. Bancroft, in his recent " History of the Constitu- 
tion," efiectually disposses of such theory in several parts of his valuable and 
interesting work. He says, referring to the action on the slave trade, " this 
decision tvas coupled ivith no demand of privileges for the shippiiig interest," (p. 
151, vol. 2.) 

The compromise made between the Northern Kepresentatives and those of 
Georgia and South Carolina, moved by Mr. PincUney, of South Carolina, and 
seconded by Mr. Gorham, of Massachusetts, was "to extend the time allowed for 
the importation of slaves till the year 1808," viz., for twenty years, (p. 158, 
vol. 2.) 

Cocke, in his " History of the Constitution," speaks of "compromising upon 
equal privileges of ports for the slave-trading ships," but where is the association, 
to say nothing of the want of evidence, in tlie opposition to slavery of our own 
people and the protection of their own commerce, products and pride from 
encroachments of British ships running around our ports and over to the West 
Indies. Such an assertion is a dernier resort in the sophistry presented in 
behalf of free ships. 

Lord Sheffield attributes our laws to the British and Jamaica '' Hum trade," 
and to " Frencii attachments." The Annals of Congress arc, however, our only 
authority. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 25 

President Washington commented in several special messages 
upon these facts, in forwarding communications of Secretary 
Jefferson and (his successor) Secretary Randolph, particularly of 
trading vessels carrj-ing mounted guns, " vessels loaded with 
flour and lumber bound to Barbadoes," (from Philadelphia and 
Charleston) " of 300 tons burden, and had mounted four small 
guns " — to protect trade ! (American State Papers.) 

The Governor of Maryland (Thomas S. Lee) reported many 
like cases, one of a British ship in the port of Baltimore with 
twelve pieces of ordnance. " Those guns," he says, " are not 
taken as an article of merchandise, but for offensive measures," 
and which dodged the law and ran out of port on suspicion. 

In view of the very clear and emphatic testimony of an Ameri- 
can President, an American Secretary of State, the several Gov- 
ernors of the States, the citizens of the port cities and coast of 
those States, all recording in harmony the cause of the creation 
of our Navigation Laws in ofiicial papers, to be told at this day 
in argumentative work, as by Mr. Wells, in a recent publication 
mis-entitled " Ovr Merchant Marine,"^ that those laws were a 
concession in compromise with slavery, is most astounding, com- 
ing from one so able and well informed. 

Mr. Wells quotes from Mr. Mason, of Virginia, " that this in- 
fernal traflic originated in the avarice of British merchants," 
" about this nefarious traflic," &c. ; but w^here is the application 
of this to the depredations of British ships upon American com- 
merce, so distinctly described by Minister Adams, at the Court of 
St. James, who wrote as follows : 

•'This being the state of things, you may depend upon it the 
commerce of the United States will have no relief at present, 
nor, in my opinion, ever, until we shall have passed navigation 
acts. If such measure is not adopted we shall be derided, and 
the more we suffer the more will our calamities be laughed at." 

The only point of Mr. Wells that appears to indicate any asso- 
ciation of the fwo subjects in the minds of the fathers of our 
country is in a letter of Luther Martin, in which he intimates 
that an agreement was made to lay " no restriction on navigation 

^ Kegarding the right of such title to a work, the writer chiims priority by- 
copyright of Library of Congress, 1877 — if the copyright is worth more than the 
cost— and has since made inquiry of the principal Liorarians whether such title, 
with prefix " Our," had previously appeared ; and has been assured to the con- 



26 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

acts;" between which (quoted) words 'Mr. Elliott inserts '^ the 
enactment of." It is not an original quotation, but seems to 
have been construed to suit "Elliott's Debates," for it closes in 
ambiguity, viz : " and the restrictive clause, relative to naviga- 
tion acts, was to be omitted." It would require a decision of 
the Supreme Court as to the meaning of these words. 

Thus we see how American Shipping was struggling under 
the severe restrictions of British jealousy, and how it improved 
under the fostering care of our early fathers, the effect of which 
will be better seen in the following statistics of loss in exports 
and increase of imports, as a forced, trade upon the American 
Colonists, viz : 

Years. Exports. Imports. 

1697 $130,000 $340,000 

1700 225,000 455,000 

1740 72,000 855,000 

1760 37,000 2,900,000 

1770 750,000 7,100,000 

1776 4,000 275,000 

1790 5,955,000 17,160,000 

The first Congress, consequently, as shown, (pages 17, 18, 19,) 
directed its attention to controverting the influences above men- 
tioned. 

1772. There were 182 vessels built, viz : 123 in England, 15 in 
New York, 1 in New Jersey, 8 in Pennsylvania, 8 in 
Maryland, 7 in Virginia, 3 in North Carolina, 2 in South 
Carolina, 5 in Georgia, and 10 in other Colonies not 
named. 

1776. It was in the year of our Independence that the first at- 
tempts were made to navigate our great Ohio and Missis- 
sippi rivers. (See following pages, " Inland Shipping.") 
Some attempts were being made at this period to apply 
steam to navis^ation, but verv in effectual! v. 

1778. Thomas Paine recorded his "Common Sense" by memo- 
rializing Congress to subsidize and thereby encourage 
the building of steamboats, " to go against tide and 
stream." 

1781. John Paul Jones built the first ship of the United States 
Navy, at Portsmouth, N. H. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 27 

1784. James Eumsey, of Cecil county, Maryland, exhibited 
before General Washington and others, on the Potomac 
river, a boat propelled by mechanism — the first success _ 
ful attempt ever made in the world, of which authentic 
testimony is at hand. ^ 

Of this fact there is abundance of proof in the correspondence 
of Washington, in the archives of the Department of State, Wash- 
ington, and in the Annals of Congress of later years, which, as 
will be seen, establishes the right and title of James Rumsey to 
the immortal glory of being the first developer of the great 
blessing to mankind of steam navigation. He possessed the 
confidence of the " Father of our Country, " and the omis- 
sion of justice to his memory by his countrymen, and 
the world, as well as its important identity with American 
Shipping, demands public consideration, and prompts the writer 
to more fully detail this record of history than would otherwise 
be presented. 

Report 317, House of Representatives, 24th Congress, 2d Ses- 
sion, records : 

" That about the beginning of the year 1784 James Rumsey 
built a boat at Shepherdstown, in the county of Berkeley, Vir- 
ginia, intended to be propelled by steam ; that in the fall of that 

^ A work of Thomas G-onzales, Director Eoyal Arcliives of Spain, records an 
attempt to apply some mechanical force to a boat by Bhmco de Garay, in Spain* 
1543. 

The " Century of Inventions," by the Marquis of Worcester, 1665, also refers 
to similar efforts. In 1690, Denys Papin, of Prance ; in 1736, Jonathan Hulls, 
of England, of whom his unappreciative neighbors recorded the following speci- 
men of doggrel and ridicule : 

"Jonathan Hulls 
With his patent skulls 
Invented a machine 
To go against wind and stream, 
But he beinK an ass, 
Couldn't bring it to pass, 
» And so was ashamed to be seen." 

Notwithstanding, Hulls was wise and his deriders foolish, as is generally the 
caes, (and notably so on the part of the outsider who wrote the "Committee's 
Questions" deriding American Shipping) ; in 1759, Genevois, of Switzerland; in 
1774, the Perier Bros., of France, invented unsuccessful contrivances, all imprac- 
ticable and futile. Hence, as will be seen further on in this argument, to Kum- 
863', Fitch, Fulton, and others, (see pp. 39, 41,) Americans, belongs the glory of 
practical application of steam to vessels; and yet it is asked to-day : 
" Can Americans build ships? " 



28 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

year, the machinery and the boat being ready, said Rumsey, his 
brother-in-law, (Chas. Morrow,) and Nicholas Orrick went on 
board the boat, when the same was pushed into the stream, 
the machinery was put in motion b}^ the application of steam, 
and the boat was actually propelled by its agency, although not 
to the satisfaction of the inventor." 

With the above brief extract from an official document, it is 
proper as well as interesting to give the following affidavit of 
Washington : 

" I have seen the model of Mr. Rumsey's boat, constructed to 
w^ork against the stream ; examined the powers upon which it 
acts; been an eye witness to an actual experiment in running 
waters of some rapidity, and give it as my opinion {although I 
had little faith before) that he has discovered the art of working 
boats by mechanism and small manual assistance against rapid 
currents; that the discovery is of vast importance — may be of 
the greatest usefulness in our inland navigation [!] and if it suc- 
ceeds, of which I have no doubt, the value of it is greatly en- 
hanced by the simplicity of the work, which, when explained, 
may be executed by the most common mechanic. 

" Given under my hand and seal, in the town of Bath, countv 
of Berkeley, in the State of Virginia, this 7th day of September, 
1784. George Washington." 



Alaryland and Virginia immediately (October, 1784) passed 
Acts of Legislation granting certain privileges for ten years. 
]^ew York soon granted the same privilege. 

Rumsey was poor, with a dependent family, and could not 
make the headway he desired with inadequate facilities and for 
want of good workmen. 

In 1785 he developed his steam principle, and had a boiler 
made in Frederick county, Md. His correspondence with 
Washington (this early) complains of one John Fitch " coming 
around and endeavoring to take the idea of steamboats from 
him." By the aid of friends, Rumsey went to Europe to work 
up his engine, and it was while absent that it appears influence 
was brought to bear (especially upon Patrick Henry) to under- 
mine his grants from the Legislatures of the several States. 

It was from Europe that Rumsey wrote to friends about a 
young man by the name of Robert Fulton^ in whom he took an 
interest, as will be shown further on. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



29 



A Eeport of Congress {March 2, 1837,) says : 

"Although Fulton is entitled to the honor of success, still, in the opinion of 
your Committee * * * that the labors of Rumserj were calculated to direct 
attention of those skilled in mechanical science to the subject of steam naviga- 
tion, and to lead to those improvements which have so eminently advanced this 
country and the whole world, there can be no doubt." 



THE FIRST STEAMBOAT IN THE WORLD. 




JAMES RUMSEY, 

or MARYLAND. 

Exhibited before General Washington and many others, on the Potomac, 
near the Capital of the Nation, 1784 and 1787.^ 

The boat was calculated to carry 100 barrels of flour. 

Vol. 70, Reports of Congress, jN"o. 817, page 6, records the fol- 
lowing : 

•' Numerous persons from the country, as well as men, women, and children from 
town, attended. The bank of the river was crowded by spectators. Capt. 
Charles Morrow was placed at the helm, and James Rumsey attended to the 
boiler and machinery. No gentlemen were permitted to go into the boat, though 
six or seven ladies were prevailed on to take seats in her. After some delay, 
while all eyeg were fixed on the boat, she started, and proceeded up the river at 
the rate of three miles the hour, * * * in the midst of cheers and huzzas by 
the crowd. -^ * * Gen. Horatio Gates, who was nearsighted, had intently 

watched the boat by the help of his glass, exclaimed : ' She goes — by , she 

goes! ' He appeared in ecstasies. The boat having run up the river about half 
a mile, returned ^ -^ * amid the tumultuous joy of the crowd." 



^ As explained above, the boat of Rumsey, of 1784, was not as much developed. 
This illustrates the development made afterwards. See following evidence. 



30 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

The following testimonial explains this great advance made in 
the Shipping of the world by the genius of an American me- 
chanic : 

" CERTIFICATE OF GENERAL GATES. 

"On Monday, December 3, 1787, I was requested to see an experiment, on the 
Potomac river, made by James Kumsey's steam boat, and had no small pleasure 
to see her get on her way, with near half her burthen on board, and move against 
the current at the rate of three tniles an hour, hy the force of steam, without any 
external application whatever. I am well informed, and verily believe, that the 
machine at present is very imperfect, and not yet capable of performincj what it 
could do if completed. I have not the least doubt but it may be brought into 
common use and be of great advantage to navigation, as the machine is simple, 
light, and cheap, and will be exceedingly durable, and does not occupy a space of 
more than four feet by two and a half. 

HOEATIO GATES, 
Late Moj. Gen. of the Continental Arm,y.'^ 

Similar certificates are on tile in the Department of State, 
signed by Charles Morrow, Robert Stubbs, Henry Bedinger, 
Thomas White, Abraham Shepherd, and others. 

This was, it is true, an improved boat of Kumsey's over that 
first exhibited by him before General Washington, in 1784, but, 
as w^ill be seen from the following letter, was prematurely exhib- 
ited : 

"Annapolis, December 17, 1787. 
" To His Excellency, 

"George Washii^jgton, 

" Mount Vernon. 
"Sir: Enclosed you have copies of two certificates of what the boat has per- 
formed at some trials we have been making. I have a number more, but as 
they are the same in substance, I thought it not necessary to copy them. We 
exhibited under many disadvantages, and should not have come forth publicly 
until spring if it had not been for Mr. Pitch's stealing a march on me in Vir- 
ginia." 

Mr. Rumsey continues in this letter in a strain of complaint 
against Mr. Fitch, and enumerating his trials and need of means 
to support his family while experimenting, and closes : 

" I can say in truth, that however unfortunate I have been in the attempts, 
my greatest ambition is and has been to deserve your esteem. * ^ * Your 
letter to Governor Johnson prevented Mr. Fitch from getting an Act here. You 
have, sir, my sincerest thanks for the many favors you have conferred on me. 
" I am your much obliged and humble servant, 

JAMES KUMSEY." 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 31 

The following testimony serves here to complete this record, 
viz : 

" I have seen both Mr. Fitch's and Mr. Ramsey's machinery. Mr. Rumsey's 
plan is much the most eligible, simple, and practicable. Mr. Fitch's machinery 
appears bulk}', weighty, and complicated, leaving little room in the boat. * * 
I do therefore give it as my opinion that Mr. Rumsey's plan is to be preferred. 

" Given under my hand at Shepherdstown, Berkeley county, Virginia, Decem- 
ber 1, 1787. HENRY BEDINGER." 

Ramsey and Fitch thus became more occupied with patent law 
suits than with the development of their great inventions. 
Hence Fulton (see following pages,) in 1807, carried off Rum- 
sey's laurels. 

In 1788 "The Rumsey Society" was formed with Franklin at 
its head to aid Rumsey ; and he again went to England to per- 
fect the building of his machinery, but the strain upon his mind — 
of genius, poverty, and the protection of his rights combined — 
was too much, and the sad news soon came from Europe that 
31r. Ritmseu had suddenly died '•'•from inflammation of the brain,'' and 
thus he was denied the honor and reward that awaited his ardu- 
ous and persevering enterprise. His last letter was'left unsigned. 
Mr. John Beale Howard wrote, (see page 5, same Report of Con- 
gress) : 

"As Mr. Fulton was in England at the time of Mr. Rumsey's death, and had 
been intimate with him it is probable that he had means of access to the matured 
model and papers of Rumsey and may deserve applause for improvements made 
in steam, but James Rumsey is certainly entitled to the fame and gratitude of his 
countrymen for his enterprise and the original invention of propelling vessels by 
steam." 

Mr. Henry Bedinger, whose testimony is quoted above is also 
recorded as writing : 

Thus died James Rumsey, in the midst of hope of success of years of study and 
perseverance ; and his family and descendants have remained unrewarded and in 
poverty, althouyh the world of mankind have availed themselves of his inventions^, 
and profited by them. It is said and believed here that Mr. Fulton b3'"some means 
possessed himself of the experiments and inventions of James Rumsey and after 
his death claimed and received the honor and profit of the invaluable experiments 
and inventions of the said Rumsey. Of one thing, I am sure, that the name of 
Fulton as the inventor of the application of steam to propelling ships or boats, 
was never heard of while Rumsey was making his experiments at Shepherdstown. 
Further, to corroborate this, a certain Mr. Fitch, theauthor of " Fitch's Maps of the 
Lakes," appeared at Shepherdstown, incog., with the hope, as he confessed, of catch- 



32 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

ing some insight of Paimsey's experiments ; he was discovered, and escaped with- 
out personal injurj- [see page 7, Keport 317, 24 Cong., 2d Sess.] I am confident 
James Kumsey was the inventor of applying steam to purposes of navigation; 
and am ready to appeal to all yet living who saw his boat, and observed its pro- 
gress. 

An effort was made in 1839, to aid the destitute descendants 
of Mr. Eumsej^ but which, similar to the neglect to American 
Shipping to-day, failed as will be herewith seen. 

" Resolved hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Con- 
gress assembled^ That the President be, and he is hereby, requested to present to 
James Kumsey, Jr., the son and only surviving child of James Rumsey, deceased, 
a suitable gold medal, commemorative of his father's services and high agency 
in giving to the world thebenefits of the Steamboat." 

The resolution was read the first and second time, and the further consideration 
thereof was postponed until Saturday next. 

Feb. 9, 1839. The House proceeded to the consideration of the resolution. 

Resolution (No. 46) requesting the President to present to James Rumse}^, Jr., 
a gold medal. 

When it was 

Ordered, That the said resolution be engrossed and read the third time to-day. 

The said resolution being engrossed^ was read the third time and passed. 

Feb. 11, 1839. Received in the Senate. 
Feb. 12, 1839. Referred to Committee on Judiciary. 
Feb. 15, 1839. Reported adversely b}^ Judiciary Committee. 
March 2, 1839. Resolution rejected by the Senate — doubtless 
through influences brought to bear after it 
passed the House of Representatives. 
Here are given some pages of history illustrative of the debt 
due by the world to American shipping, and due by our country 
to an American ship-builder — a phase of historj^ so often repeated 
of injustice and neglect to this greatest of all Industries, especi- 
ally to the United States. 

It is here presented for the consideration of the Select Com- 
mittee and for the people in contradistinction to the unnatural 
and incorrect insinuation of the Committee's Questions pro- 
pounded, and hoping that the greater the omissions of the past, 
the greater may be the future provisions against such historj^ 
being repeated.^ 

^ It is evident from man}' incidents of history that S\-mington, of England, 
obtained his idea of steam navigation from Rumsey's exhibition on the Thames, 
as his process was identical, (in after years,) and yet Lindsay and other British 
writers make the severest reflections upon Fulton for imitating Symington. For 
further comment upon these points of history see following pages. (1807.) 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 33 

The eftbrts to apply steam (" navigation by fire ") were as many 
as the months of the year. 

1790. Oliver Evans, of Pennsylvania; l^athan Eead, of Massa- 

chusetts ; Charles Reynolds, of Connecticut; William 
Longstreet, of Georgia, and many others, all " came 
near" aTcquiring the immortal distinction of Fulton. 

1791. January 6. The Secretary of the' Treasury, Alexander 

Hamilton, reported to Speaker Muhlenberg the follow- 
ing condition of our Shipping : 

Total tonnage of the United States : 

American vessels employed in the foreign 

trade 363,093 

American coasters above 20 tons 113,181 

American vessels on the fisheries 26,252 

502,526 

Total foreign tonnage . 262,913 

United Sta'tes and British 312 

United States and other foreign 338 

Total 766,089 

Thus it will be seen that the tonnage of foreign ships in our 
ports at the time of the enactment of those laws was about one- 
half of that of our own. 

The most remarkable coincidence in the history of American 
shipping, however, is the following exhibit of the conditions of 
this great industry, taken verbatim from the report of the Secre- 
tary of State, Thomas Jefferson, to Congress on February 2, 1791, 
in reference to the coastwise depredations upon our commerce 
and shipping. 

Secretary Jefferson first presents our 

ADVANTAGES. ^ 

"1st. The neighborhood of the great fisheries, which permits 
our fishermen to bring home their fish to be salted by their wives 
and children. 

" 2d. The shore fisheries so near at hand as to enable the vessels 
to run into port in a storm, and so lessen the risk for which dis- 
tant nations must pay insurance. 

" 3d. The winter fisheries, which, like household manufactures, 
employ portions of time which would otherwise be useless. 

1 American State Papers — Commerce and Navigation. 
3H 



34 HISTORY OE AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

"4th. The small iiess of the vessels which the shortness of the 
voyage enables us to employ, and which consequently require but 
a small capital. 

" 5th. The cheapness of our vessels, which do not cost the half 
of the Baltic fir vessels, computing price and duration. 

" 6th. Their excellence as sea-boats, which decreases the risk 
and quickens the returns. 

*'7th. The superiority of our. mariners in skill, activity, enter- 
prise, sobriety, and order. 

"8th. The cheapness of provisions. 

*' 9th. The cheapness of casks, which of it-self is said to be equal 
to an extraprofit of 15 per cent." 

Secretary Jefferson then points to the causes that even at that 
early period undermined our shipping interests. 

DISADVANTAGES. 1 

"1st. The loss of the Mediterranean markets. 

"2d. Exclusion from the markets of some of our neighbors. 

"3d. Pligh duties (tariff) in those of others. 

"4th. Bounties to the individuals in competition loith us.'' 

What a forcible illustration again of history repeating itself! 
Here are actually the words of Thomas Jefferson to Congress in 
1791, telling as it were our exact condition to-day ; yet statesmen 
seem not yet to have learned the evils and the causes of continued 
depression of American shipping. 

The pages of history tell so emphatically and strangely the 
similarity in the events and conditions to those of our shipping 
to-day that were they rewritten and published as current news 
their application w^ould be complete. There is the same necessity 
for national protection to the ship, the same foreign bounty is 
paid — only greater and more cunningly — the same dependence 
or monopoly of American commerce sought and to be resisted. 

Indeed the best argument by far to present to the country 
is history. In the pages thereof, more eloquently than by 
tongue or pen, will be heard the pleadings of the foreign des- 
troyer of our Industries ; the same old Tory cry against the truth, 
and the faint attempts to ridicule the efforts of those who favor 

^American State Papers — Commerce and Navigation. 



Tlie CHILD OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY calM "AN ORPHAN," 

AND MADE 

A GALLEY SLAVE. 




" Disadvantages to American Interests — 1st. Loss of the Mediterranean 
markets, 2d. Exclusion from the markets of our neighbors. 3d. High duties in 
those of others. 4th. Bounties to individuals in competition with us." 
[See page 34.] Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State. 35 



^O HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

home ships grows bolder from discouragement and loss to those 
who have endeavored to risk their personal wealth without that 
bounty given to their competitors, as Mr. Jefferson has expressed 
above. 

1797. The three renowned United States frigates were launched — 
the ^' Constitution " of Boston which, while under Hull, 
Morris, and Stewart, was proudly termed the " Old Iron- 
sides," from her staunchness and remarkable naval 
record — still floating, although remodeled into a School- 
ship ; the " United States," of Philadelphia, termed the 
Old Wagon, also renowned; and the "Constellation," 
of Baltimore, so bravely fought by Truxtun. 
1800. During the preceding decade American Shipping suffered 
vicissitudes that would have destroyed the commercial 
enterprise of any people of less courage or perseverance. 
The innate nautical talent and skill of Americans was indes- 
tructible, their marine spirit irrepressible. 

A singular history of circumstances in the blending of the 
fortunes, the trials, and ultimate achievements of four Ameri- 
cans destined to revolutionize the Shipping of the world, occur- 
red at this date, viz. : a friendly acquaintance and cooperation 
between Chancellor Livingston and Nicholas J. Roosevelt, of 
New York, John Cox Stevens, of New Jersey, and Robert Ful- 
ton. 

As shown, (on page 31,) Fulton had met Rumsey in Paris. 
Livingston was then United States Minister there. And these 
four all combined to develop steam in Shipping. Fulton — 
American like — accomplished two things at once, in marrying 
the Chancellor's daughter and in inaugurating steam naviga- 
tion. (See pages 39-41.) 

It was during this (last) decade that Stephen Girard and Isaac 
Hazlehurst, of Philadelphia, began their " Philadelphia, New Or- 
leans, and San Domingo Line," under great difficulties, but finally 
established their success with those beautiful ships built on the 
Delaware, and called by Girard "Voltaire," "Rousseau," and 
" Helvetius," that also opened a remunerative Asiatic trade. 

Congress having taken the control of our tonnage rights, 
placed a sacred clause in our Constitution, which, to the shame of 
our official record, has been outrageously violated, viz : 

" No State shall without the consent of Congress lay any duty upon tonnage." 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 37 

Why the violation of this clause has been permitted, is beyond 
the comprehension of any " Constitutional judge," except as a 
result peculiar to the enactments of our Shipping " Court of Errors " 
— the American Congress of later years. 

Meanwhile British depredations upon our commerce continued. 

M^emorials from every port of our coast were made fiom 
time to time and from which the following extracts are taken, 
and of which there are volumes: 

Message 
of the President of the United States to Congress^ January 29, 1806. 

Having received from sundry merchants at Baltimore a 
uiemorial on the same subject with those which I commu- 
nicated to Congress with my message of the 17th inst., I now 
communicate this also as a proper sequel to the former, and as 
making part of the mass of evidence of the violations of our 
rights on the ocean. 

TnoxMAS Jefferson. 
Memorial. 

To the President of the United States and the Senate and House of Rep- 
resentatives , ^c. 

(A paper of 25 pages.) 

•T* 'T* 'T^ T^ "T* 

Your memorialists will not trespass upon your time with a re- 
cital of the various acts by which our coasts, and even our ports 
and harbors, have been converted into scenes of violence and 
depredation, by w^hich the security of our trade and property has 
been impaired. 

;}j ^ ^ ^ ^ 

Mark Pringle. William Wilson. 

Hugh Thompson. Luke Tiernan. 

John Sherlock. Eobert Gilmore. 

John Strieker. J. A. Buchanan. 

Lemuel Taylor. John Hollins. 

Henry Payson. James Calhoun. 

Benjamin Williams. Alexander McKim. 

Thomas Tenant. William Patterson. 

David Stewart. Samuel Sterett. 

John Swan. John Donnell. 

Thomas Hollingsworth. William Lorman. 

Joseph Sterett. William Taylor. 
George Stiles. ' Stewart Brown. 
Baltimore, January 21, 1806. 

The New York Chamber of Commerce memorialized Congress 
to evince a deeper interest in behalf of our shipping, as will be 
seen in the followino^ extract: 



88 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

" The active enterprise of the American merchants is con- 
stantly looking abroad to everj^ part of the world for a market, 
and if it is any where to be found, or if there is only a reason- 
able presumption that it may be found, the farmer meets with 
a ready vent for his produce. Perhaps the calculation of the 
merchant may be disappointed, and he even ruined, yet the mis- 
fortune reaches not the farmer, he has the same benefit of a good 
marketc 

" But should American vessels ever disappear, he must then 
be entirely at the mercy of chance adventures for a market, and 
when the demand is not very great the price of the freight will 
be deducted from the article itself All this must necessarily tend 
essentially to lessen the value of the farmers j^roduce.'' 

Here is still another illustration that the historj^ of to-day is 
but the repetition of lamentations on account of our Shipping for 
a century; here, too, is forcibly presented the pecuniary interest 
of the American farmer, developed by shipping enterprise at 
home, in contradistinction from dependence upon foreign ships 
and foreign shipbuilding. 

Again, on January 28, 1806, the Secretary of State, James 
Madison, appealed to Congress for further protection to our ship- 
ping, and setting forth the recent British restrictions against the 
same. 

The history of Our Merchant Marine for the first half century 
of American Independence is glorious to review, not, however, 
without vicissitudes and trials. 

Fostered and protected by the wise Statesmen of their age, 
the rapid strides made in commerce and navigation are unprece- 
dented in the annals of nations. Yet you have asked, why we 
cannot have ships? 

So great was the pride of our Statesmen of that period, and so 
determined their judgment to uphold it, that the w^ar of 1812 
was preferred to renunciation of their " Revolutionary prin- 
ciples" or to the loss of American-built ships. 

History was again repeated. 

Eno:land continued strikins: at our commerce, but our States- 
men then stood firm, and America won. 

From 1800 to 1850, the United States' Flag was prominent on 
every ocean. Our country excelled all other nations, and the 
Baltimore Clipper" was the champion of the world and the pride 
of our people. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



39 



1807. Robert Fulton applied steam to propelling a ship in con- 
stant daily service, and practically inaugurated a new 
era in the Shipping of the world. Rumsey, as we 
have seen, by death, lost the golden opportunity to 
achieve immortality in fame, and Fulton harvested his 
hard-ploughed field and gave the fruit to the world. 
The failures of Fitch had caused the Legislature of New York 
to revoke a grant given to him, and extended the same privilege 
to Robert R. Livingston, Chancellor of the State, and the finan- 
cial, faithful, and sanguine backer of Fulton. 

" Steamship " became a synonymous term with " the Chan- 
cellor's hobby," and indeed he, like Rumsey, Fitch, and Fulton, 
was often pronounced crazy by those who possessed no talent to 
-appreciate advancement. 

It was on August, 7, 1807, that the -' Clermont" steamed from 
the foot of Courtlandt street up the Hudson river. " The 
wharves, piers, housetops, and every coigne of vantage were 
filled with spectators." Of twelve berths, every one was taken, 
iit $7, through to Albany, on her trial trip. 




C L E K M N T , 



OF CLERMONT, 
ISTamed after Fulton's wife, daughter of Chancellor Livingston. 

BUILT BY CHARLES BROWN, NEW YORK. 



40 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

As the boat steamed out from the dock her commander was 
greeted with both jeers and cheers. 

Fulton wrote : " I ran up in thirty-two hours and down in 
thirty hours." It was 150 miles, thus making five miles per 
hour. 

It is impossible here to enumerate the incidents of such a 
great episode and revolution in Shipping; the effect was thrilling 
to all, of delight to many, of terror to others, especially to sailors. 

"The crews shrank beneath their decks from the terrific sight,, 
and others prostrated themselves and besought Providence to 
protect them from the approach of the terrible monster which 
was marching up the tide, lighting its path by the fires which it 
vomited." 




EGBERT FULTON. 

The Legislature of ITew York had granted a monopoly, as 
above stated, to Livingston and Fulton for twenty years, which 
precluded opposition or equal rights within the waters of this- 
State; and, although the disposition to monopolize was the same 
then as now in human nature, there was no "Anti-Monopoly 
League" at that time to remonstrate against such injustice: 
hence it was that, although John Cox Stevens only a few days 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



41 



after also succeeded with a steamboat of his own construction 
in New York, the " PhcBnix," he was denied the privilege to run 
her, or in any way to utilize her near [N'ew York. 

Thus we see even monopoly is but " a repetition of history.'' 
Mr. Stevens was compelled to send his boat (the Phoenix) 
around to the Delaware river in charge of his son in order to 
afford the public the benefit of her great advantages in steam 
propulsion. 

The first person, therefore, who ever took a steam vessel to 
sea, as the Encyclopaedia Britannica fairly admits, " was an 
American." 



THE 

GREAT AMERICAN MECHANIC, 

NAVAL ARCHITECT, AND NAVIGATOR, 




ROBERT LIVINGSTOI^ STEVENS, 

The first commander of a boat controlled on the Sea by steam only. 



42 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

A further frank admission is made by the same British author- 
ity, in great contrast to the efforts of some historians to belittle 
American achievements in Shipping, that " although steam navi- 
gation had been thus early introduced on American waters, it 
was not till the year 1812 that the first regular passenger steamer 
made its appearance in this country, (Great Britain,) on the 
Clyde." 

This boat, referred to as plying successfully in Great Britain, 
■^vQ years after the regular trips of the Clermont on the Hudson, 
and the Phoenix on the Delaware had been established, was built 
and run by Henry Bell, of London, and called 



^^0 




THE " COMET." 

Plied on the Thames river in 1812, 

Twenty-eight years after Rmnsey^s on the Potomac, five years after FultotVs 
on the Hudson, and one year after RooseveW s on the Mississippi. ^ 



And yet, in the face of all this important history, the Select 
Committee on American Shipping has, in the year 1882, allowed 
somebody to send out — apparently officially — the " Primer Ques- 
tions," that must forever record in our historj- the bias, and un- 
reliability of the person who perpetrated such absurd queries 
upon an American public. 

That there is '' nothing new under the sun " seems to be very 
forcibly proven in the history of Shipping, as in all else whatso- 
ever in this practical and impractical world. That many minds 
before that of Fulton applied steam to Shipping, even success- 
fully, although not in regular service, should be known to 

^ The " Committee " is asked to make a note of this, and also of Bell's claim 
that Americans owe everything to him ! 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 43 

every one ; but that it was Americans who were the heroes of 
this grand success is impossible to confute with facts. It is to 
be hoped, however, that no American would be willing to 
write of Hulls, Symington, and Bell as has been written in 
envious spirit of our shipbuilding heroes by several of Great 
Britain's best writers, in the past and recently. 

About this time Oliver Evans, aided financiallj^ by Captain 
James McKeever, of Kentucky, endeavored to applj- " high 
pressure " to a steam engine, for river navigation. 

The first Ferry Boat was also plied regularly. (See Inland 
Shipping.) 

1809. Mr. and Mrs. i!^icholas J. Eoosevelt undertook the first 
trip by steam from Pittsburgh to 'New Orleans. Mr. 
Eoosevelt', aided by Chancellor Livingston, (the father- 
in-law of Fulton,) here commenced his enterprise of 
building the steamer " New Orleans," but first made 
the trip in a small boat, in exploration. ^ 

Like a Maryland woman, Mrs. Roosevelt stood and sailed by 
the side of her husband, determined that nothing should be left 
undone that a noble wife could do in aid of her husband's ambi- 
tion and American enterprise in Industry. Taking her maid 
along, she was firm in her resolve, and in November they left 
Pittsburgh, in a boat fitted up by Mr. Roosevelt, and arrived at 
New Orleans early in December, stopping a while at Louisville. 

The perils and incidents of the trip are thrillingly interesting, 
and indicative of American pluck and zeal in navigation, although 
too long to narrate here; but unless the fearful decline of Ameri- 
can Shipping is soon stayed, it is not unlikely that the indignation 
of our people will be so great, and that indignity so keenly felt 
against Congress for neglect, and against the Tory agents of 
foreign tramp ships, that, as in the South during our civil war, 
the women of our country will send short garments of white 
linen to those milk-and-water writers and lobbyists who are so 
cunningly, cowardly, and treacherously, or, if possible, igno- 
rantly — for it must be one or the other — neglecting, misrepre- 
senting, and destroying the revival of our past prestige. 

1 The most interesting history extant of this brilliant and heroic undertaking 
-will be found in a pamphlet of Mrs. Koosevelt's brother, J. H. B. Latrobe, pub- 
lished by the Maryland Historical Society. 



44 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

1811. Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt in this year again made the trip 
from Pittsburgh to New Orleans, but this time in a 
perfected steamboat — let it be remembered and written 
in golden letters of history — one year before there 

WAS A STEAMBOAT PLYING REGULARLY ON THE ThAMES, 

OR ON ANY WATER in England. 

This fact is particularly called to the Committee's attention. 

It is not surprising that amid the startling episodes of this 
enterprise, the terrible current of the Mississippi river, chased 
by canoes of Indians, alarms of fire on board, and worse than all, 
appalled by earthquakes of that year " that shook the earth to 
its center," and even " changed the channel of the river and 
swept away one of the islands near them " ^ — it is not 
surprising, we repeat, that such an enterprise brought forth 
a native-born American sailor ; that a child of the water 
was born of parents so amphibious in taste, zeal, and patriotism 
as a trophy of American Industry, from the noble Maryland 
heroine, to the country, so lovingly faithful to her heroic hus- 
band, and true to the maxim engraved upon the escutcheon of 
that old State — " Crescite et multiplicamini.'' 

Shame on an American Congress that refuses to subsidize an 
enterprise and Industry that yields us such results ! 

Would that such spirit and zeal were infused in more of our 
statesmen to-day, and the birthright of American Industry would 
not be a fraud from foreign asylums, and the American Ship 
truly " an orphan." ^ 

England expects every man to do his duty, but provides for 
the faithful from her Exchequer — hence her Seaman and Mer- 
chant Navy. 

It was this year (1811) that Gouverneur Morris established a 
company to develop inland navigation or transit, by building a 
Canal. He obtained the appointment of the following commis- 
sioners : Stephen Van Rensselaer, De Witt Clinton, Simeon De 
Witt, William North, Thomas Eddy, and Peter B. Porter. 

Chancellor Livingston and Robert Fulton were afterward 
added. 

^ See Mr. Latrobe's extract : it is actual history. 
2 See Resolution of the Hon. Mr. Frye, page IG. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



45 



1812. Maryland established the First Great Epoch m American 
Shipping by the building of a new model ship, the 
Baltimore Clipper, which were made of " the form of 
the wave of the ocean," famous for their fast sailing 
and as the best appointed vessels in the world for many 
years after, carrying generally several guns each. 

This tj^pe of ship was developed by the war for rapid sailing. 

The interest and enterprise taken by Baltimore merchants in 
American Shipping has been shown, (pages 37 and 38,) and of 
those whose names are there recorded were as fine types of com- 
mercial enterprise and noble character in every respect as ever 
lived. 




WILLIAM WILS0:N", 

FOUNDER OF THE HOUSE OF 

WILLIAM WILSON & SONS 
1780—1880. 



Of this old firm of four generations only two of the third 
generation remain, and the fourth line of posterity have found 
better investments in other pursuits ; but the house will always 
be part of the history of the Shipping of our country. 



46 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

The names of Soutbcomb, Leverly, Barne}^ and many others, 
should be written in a tablet of imperishable stone, to commemo- 
rate the old Monumental City for the enterprise of her sons ot 
Shipping Industry and the valor that immortalized the com- 
manders of the " Falcon," " Globe," and " Nonsuch." 

The fame of these Clippers spread to all parts of the world, 
and grew as the success of their model became more generally 
known. Boston, New York, and Philadelphia adopted the prin- 
ciple at once, and England soon after imitated them very success- 
fully, at Aberdeen. 

The names of John Currier and Donald McKay, of Massachu- 
setts, are too familiar to need particular reference. The type of 
Shipping merchants of that old State is marked in the characters 
of William Gray, Elias H. Derby, Josepb Peabody, J. W. and 
Nathaniel Rogers, Charles Hill, (a partner for some time of John 
Currier in shipbuilding and an extensive Shipping merchant,) 
Brown, Russell, and many others too numerous to specify, whose 
names are written in the ledgers of British Shipping houses as 
contributing to the prosperity of the world; and yet the " Ques- 
tions " of the Committee intimate that there can be no Shipping 
in our country unless we purchase the tramp stock of England. 

Why must an American Shipping Committee take partial 
British history ? Why is it always so? Why cannot the true 
history of American Shipping be taken by an American Con- 
gress, instead, as has been the case for twenty-five years, of 
going to the very partial writings of enterprising and far-sighted 
rivals in the Shipping Industry. ^ 

The spirit of statesmen of that day — Timothy Pickering, De 
Witt Clinton, and others — in the development of our Shipping, 
should be emblazoned on the walls of our Capitol, " that those 
who run may read to-day of the prestige of the past and the im- 
potency of the present in legislative action in behalf of this 
Industry. ^ 

^ U. S. Consul Potter, in a report to the Department of State, recently, writes 
that, were British merchants consulted or allowed to dictate a policy'-, they could 
not direct a cause more beneficial to their interests than the destruction of Ameri- 
can shipbuilding and consequent contribution of our Carrying Trade to British 
Ships. (See following pages.) 

2 It was in 1812 that Clinton was first authorized to submit suggestions for a 
canal, but not until 1817 that incorporation therefor was made. (See Inland 
Shipping for this history and portrait of Clinton.) 



THREE EPOCHS IN AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

1st.— SAIL. 

"THE _A.M:ERIO^]Sr CLIPPER." 




4,cxx). tons, 325 feet long, 53 feet wide, 37 feet deep, 4 masts, each with lightning-rod. 

Owned by A. A. Low & Co., New York. Built by Donald McKay, Boston. 

(See page 4C.) (47) 



Tributes to the American Ship of this Epoch. 



The Hon. Mr. Lindsay, an eminent British shipping authority, 
although usually very partial in his expressions, says : 

" I have alread}' shown that this superiority consisted raainly 
in the fact that American ships can sail faster and carry more 
cargo, in proportion to their registered tonnage, than those of 
their competitors ; but their improvements did not rest here. In 
considering the current expenses of a merchantman, manual 
labor is one of the most important items, and herein our com- 
petitors, by means of improved blocks and various other mechani- 
cal appliances, so materially reduced the number of hands that 
twenty seamen in an American sailing-ship could do as much 
work, probably with more ease to themselves, than thirty in a 
British vessel of similar size. With such ships we failed success- 
fully to compete; and although we have since far surpassed them 
in ocean steam navigation, the Americans were the first to dis- 
patch a steamer for trading purposes across the Atlantic." 

And particularly by Mr. Grantham, the British historian, as 
follows, can never be blotted out : 

'' Previous to the development of steamships, the preponder- 
ance of shipping was falling rapidly into the hands of American 
ship-owners. Thirty years ago one of the great objects of in- 
terest at the docks in Liverpool was the American sailing packet, 
and it was considered that a stranger had missed one of the lions 
of the port who had not visited these celebrated ships. The same 
prestige was felt everywhere — -on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, 
in India, China, and in all the best trades, American ships were 
most in demand. 

" The navigation laws of that day, indeed, offered some limit to 
this aggressive course, and when these laws were to be released, 
the alarm of British ship-owners was general and apparently z(;e^^ 
grounded ; but a remarkable change in the relative position of the 
two countries is now witnessed. 

"The probability of this was long foreseen by those who were 
practically acquainted with the question ; for exactly in propor- 
tion to the progress of ocean steam, navigation, especially when iron loas 
to be the material for building ships, so would England reassert her 
supremacy. ^^ 

(48) 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 49 

1817. Cornelius YaQderbilt first embarked in Shipping enter- 
prise. 

Bounty or subsid}^ granted in Act of Congress for en- 
couragement of our Fisheries. (See Coastwise Ship- 
ping.) The sum of which ^'subsid}^ " paid, not includ- 
ing rebates, to 1860, amounted to over $16,000,000. 

And yet our statesmen to-day are afraid to talk about subsidy, 
as though more immaculate than our forefathers in enacting of 
laws for American enterprise. The cry of " wolf" is not always 
sincere, but often to divert attention ! 

The famous Black Ball Line of American sailing ships was 
established, and of which the following old advertisement is 
more descriptive than any comments of to-day could express: 

" OLB LIXE OF LIVERPOOL PACKETS. 
" TO SAIL ON THE FIRST AXD SIXTEENTH OF EVERY MONTH. 

" The Liverpool packets having met with general approbation and support, the 
owners of them have concluded to add to the number of vessels employed in that 
-establishment ; and they now intend that the following ships shall sail beweeu 
New York and Liverpool, in regular succession, twice in each month from each 
port, leaving both New York and Liverpool on the 1st and 16th of every month 
throughout the year, viz : 

Ship New York, George Maxwell, master. 
■' Ship Columbia, James Rodgers, master. 

Ship Orbit, Joseph Tinkham, master. 
"Ship Wm. Thompson, R. R. Crocker, master. 

Ship Pacific, S. Maxwell, master. 

Ship Jas. Cropper, C. H. Marshall, master. 

Ship Canada, Seth G. Macy, master. 

Ship Nestor, William Lee, jr., master. 

These ships were built in New York, of the best materials, and are coppered 
and copper-fastened. They are very fast sailers, their accommodations for pas- 
sengers are uncommonly extensive and commodious, and they are commanded by 
men of great experience. The price of passage to England in the cabin is now 
fixed at thirty guineas, for which sum passengers will be furnished with beds, 



Similar advertisements are at hand o€ the Philadelphia, Balti- 
more, l!^ew Orleans, and other lines of American Ships. 

These lines established a grand record of American Merchant 
Shipping, and developed the genius and fame of so many 
American Shipyards from this date until 1855, and from which 
came the '* Great Kepublic," (see page 47,) the " Flying Cloud," 
and many other renowned ships. 
4h 



50 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

1818. The steamboat " Walk in the Water " opened trade on 

the Lakes. (See " Inland Shipping Conditions.") 

1819. And now a record is made of a feat in American Ship- 

ping enterprise, of a page of history too little known,, 
and strange to say, even by " Woodcroft's Steam Navi- 
gation" declared " a myth," and by many British au- 
thorities — the London Illustrated News conspicuous — 
noted with indifference, if not positive denial. 

The steamship " Savannah," built the year previous by 
Francis Fichett, New York, was purchased by William Scar-^ 
borough, of Savannah, Ga., with the expressed determination to 
mark our nation's Shipping with a grand record of unprece- 
dented industry, skill, and glory, viz. : to send across the ocean,, 
even to Russia, a herald of the genius of shipbuilding of 
America. 

Mr. Scarborough enlisted Messrs. Sturgis, Brown, Harris, and 
others, of his city, in this great enterprise to revolutionize the car- 
rying trade of the world, sanguine of success; he secured the- 
services of Capt. Moses Rogers for command of the expedition, 
and desiring to show the patriotic spirit predominating at that 
time in his commercial home — which, sad to say, has to day, 
with the exception of the old house of Octavus Cohen & Co. 
and one or two others, passed into foreign monopoly — he named 
his steamship after the city of Savannah. 

Could the enterprising spirit of those departed patriots but be 
revived to-day, that city would be relieved of its Rip Van Winkle 
nature and foreign influence that handicaps its prosperity and 
misrepresents her sons of Industry. 

On May 11, (1819,) President Monroe visited her, and the 
city ]->resented a fete in honor of this great event — the inauguration 
of ocean steam navigation by American skill, pluck, and fore- 
sight. 

Here is another triumph of American Shipping enterprise; 
and yet it is asked : " Can Americans build ships ? " 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



51 



THE FIRST STEAMSHIP THAT CROSSED THE. OCEAN. 
1819. 




THE "SAVANNAH." 

Owned by William Scarborough, of Georgia. Commanded by Moses Rogers. 

BUILT, NEW YORK, 1818. 

Arrived at Liverpool June 20, 1819 ; steamed to St. Petersburg, and returned 
to Savannah in November of same year ; plied for years in Coastwise Service, and 
burned off Long Island. 

On approaching the British coast, she was supposed to be a 
ship on fire, and cruisers endeavored to overtake her, with a 
desire to aid a ship in distress, as they supposed. 

Sailing from Savannah May 26, she made a notable although 
long voyage — explained herewith following — ^and arrived at 
England June 20. (See letter of U. S. Minister Rush.) 

During ,the stay of the " Savannah " at Liverpool the British 
regarded her with suspicion, and the newspapers of England, 
with one accord, asserted that " this steam operation may, in 
some manner, be connected with the ambitious views of the 
United States." In fact, the most ridiculous comments were 
made and ideas suggested, equally as irrelevant to the existing 
conditions as the insinuations thrown out in the " Queries " of 
some person for the Select Committee. 



62 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

It is strange and singular that the record of the " Savannah " 
is so little known in our own country. Only a few days since 
the writer was disputed by " a native citizen," who positively 
contended that it was the English who first sent a steamboat to sea. 

Apropos to this point, as our people are so willing to give 
away their own laurels, it is well to cite some similar observa- 
tion. The "American Review," Yol. I, 1845, says : 

" In fact, when the ' Sirius ' and * Great Britain ' (of England) arrived in New 
York harbor, April 28, 1838, twenty years after the exploit of the ' Savan- 
nah,' they were received with extravagant manifestations of delight; and in an 
editorial of the New York Express, April 24, (and others,) reference is made to 
the unusual joy and excitement in the city, it being almost universally consid- 
ered as the beginning of a new era in the history of Atlantic navigation. 

" The achievement of the ' Savannah ' was forgotten — her skillful captain no 
longer lived to claim his rights ; but patriotic citizens protested in the public 
press against losing sight of the just claims of America." 

One would really think that the individual who wrote the 
Select Committee's series of '^ Questions " had reported the 
above article for the [N'ew York Express, in the interest of British 
Shipping, as now. 

In Passage Churchyard, near Cork, Ireland, there is a monu- 
ment to Captain Richard Roberts, of the British " Sirius," with 
the following inscription : 

"This stone commemorates, &c., the merits of the ^rs^ officer under whose 
command a steam vessel ever crossed the Atlantic Ocean (!) — undaunted braverj* 
exhibited in the suppression of the slave trade, &c., recommended him for the 
arduous service." — 

— Some of our anti- American Ship advocates might as well make 
Captain Roberts the framer of our Navigation Laws as to try to 
mix the same with slavery, in the hope of recreating old preju- 
dices to injure American Shipping. (See pages 23-25.) — 

— " The thousands that shall follow in his trade must not forget who it was that 
taught the world to traverse, &c., the highway of the ocean (with steam.) "— 

— Yes, but the world must remember it was the American 
Moses Rogers, and not the British Richard Roberts, and in 1819 
instead of 1838.— 

"God having permitted him this distinction, was pleased to decree that the 

rearer of this great enterprise should be also its martyr. Captain Roberts per- 
ished with all on board his ship— the ' President,' March, 1841." 

Here is a sacred epitaph engraved by the British people un- 
justly to one of their own as well as to the departed and deserving 
American sailor. How gladly would the writer of the Com- 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 53 

mittee's Questions have quoted this, had he known it, to sustain 
British opinion ! But, fortunately, a noble, fair-minded English 
writer, Mr. William Goodman, the author of the *' Social History 
of Great Britain," has recorded : 

'' As far us this memorial hands down to posterity the good private qualities of 
the much-lamented and ill-fated commander, (of the 'Sirius,' Captain Roberts,) 
it may be very appropriate ; but it is due to the fame of the United States, to his- 
toric truth, to science and to navigation, that the following facts be duly recorded, 
viz. : In Mr. Rush's Memoranda of a Residence at the Court of St. James, 2d Vol., 
page 130, will be found, &c., the full log of the ' Savannah ' and her arrival in 
America." 

Thus the feat had been performed nineteen years before that 
of Captain Roberts. 

The following extract from the archives of official papers 
furnishes proof to silence hereafter the misrepresentation : 

Official Dispatch No. 76. 
From U. S. Minister to England, Richard Rash, to the Department of State. 

" LoNDOX, July M, 1819. 
* -X- * * -^ -:r 

" SjR : On the twentieth of last month arrived at Liverpool from the United 
States the steamship 'Savannah,' Captain Rogers, being the first vessel of this 
description that has ever crossed the seas, and having excited equal admiration 
and astonishment as she entered the port under the power of her steam. 

" She is a fine ship, of three hundred and twenty [350] tons burden, and exhib- 
its in her construction no less than she has done in her navigation across the 
Atlantick — a signal trophy of American enterprise and skill upon the ocean. [This 
clause is especially and respectfully recalled to the consideration of the Joint 
Select Committee.] 

" I learn from Captain Rogers, who has come to London and been with me, 
[hence not a 'myth,' as declared by Woodcroft,] that she worked with great 
ease and safety on the voyage, and used her steam full eighteen days. 

" Her engine acts horizontally, and is equal to a seventy-two horse power. 
Her wheels, which are of iron, are on the sides, and removable at pleasure. The 
fuel laid in was fifteen hundred bushels of coal, which got exhausted on her 
entrance into the Irish Channel. 

" The captain assures me that the xoeather in general was extremely unfavorable, 
or he would have made a much shorter passage; besides that, he was five days 
detained in the Channel for want of coal. * '^ 

" I have the honor, to be, &c., 

"RICHARD RUSH." 

Minister Rush also wrote of Captain Rogers as an enterprising' 
intelligent, and patriotic mariner of our country, and expressed 
himself anxious that he should have every opportunity to ad- 
vance the interests of American Shipping. 



54 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

Phlegmatic statesmen and incipient patrijots may think of this 
to-day as an ordinary occurrence, but there was far more in it 
than all the record of the universe for the last quarter of a cen- 
tury. It has been termed (by Captain Livingston) '^ a proud monu- 
ment to Yankee skill;'' but we justly claim it a Southern (Georgia) 
enterprise ; hence truly Yankee, because truly national ! 

Georgia may surprise the loorld again. 

Mr. Scarborough died poor, and Captain Rogers, who had also 
commanded Stevens' boat, in going first to sea — because Fulton's 
'boat monopolized New York waters by getting into the stream 
from dock three dags ahead — whose nautical pluck and skill was 
ivithout rival, was buried soon after on South Carolina's soil, and, 
like Rumsey,the progenitor of the motive power which he (Rogers) 
used so grandly to inaugurate the great international exchange of 
products and intermingling of peoples of the w^orld,-both died un- 
unrewarded, and to-day almost forgotten. 

An American Congress, unlike a wise British Parliament, left 
American commercial genius and honor and prosperity to de- 
cline in national enterprise. At this very period, and for thirty 
years previous, England was paying millions yearly in subsidy 
to her " sail packets." 

Here is presented uncontrovertible evidence of American pres- 
tige in Shipping, that has so often been denied, as a tribute to 
our Southern people, and is denied to-daj- to our whole countr3\ 

1834. The iron ship " Randolph," sent over in pieces from the 
Boulton works, in England, and was riveted and put 
together complete in three months on reaching its 
owner in Savannah. 

The difference now, it may be here added, is that the "Free 
Ships " sent over at this time are of such old or " tramp " stock, 
sold cheap, to destroy American Shipping, that they come to 
pieces after, instead of before, getting here. See Gulnare, Jean- 
nette, &c., some of the British Coffin "Free Ships," sold off to 
Americans — cheap I we repeat. (See following evidence.) 

1841. The " South Carolina," 769 tons, and the " Rappahannock" 
were built. " The latter was the largest merchantman 
ever built, at this date, in the United States." Length, 
180 feet. — Mercantile Journal, Boston. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 55 

Mace^regor, in his British " History of Commerce," writes : 

" The sailing ships belonging to the United States, which sail regularly from 
^ew York, Boston, Philadelphia, Bath, and other ports, * * * are equipped 
in a style of extraordinary perfection and beauty and navigated with the utmost 
nautical skill. Those which sail between New York and Liverpool are truly 
magnificent, and their accommodations, though gorgeous, combine for passen- 
gers all the luxury and comfort of splendid hotels." 

This record of a historian is submitted to the Shipping Com- 
mittee, and to the people, in refutation of insinuations cast. 

The yield of this Industry that year to our country was 
123,660 tons, of which the following comprised part : 

American Shipbuildwg Record. 

184 1- 

Shipyard of — Tons. 

"William Brown, 1 steamer 1,300 

John Williamson, 1 ship 740 

" " 1 brig 350 

Welch & Allen, 1 ship 525 

Fisher «fe Tomes, 1 ship 500 

.■Smith, Duncan & Comstock, 1 ship i 950 

Brown & Bell, 2 steamers 1,200 

" " 1 schooner 100 

Westervelt, 1 ship 950 

" 1 ship 800 

Lawrence & Snowden, 1 brig 300 

." " 1 ship •_ , 900 

1845. The standing of nations in Shipping at this date stood as 
follows, viz. : 

Nations. No. of Vessels. Tonnage. 

Oreat Britain 23,898 3,007,581 

United States 19,666 2,416,999 

France 13,782 839,608 

Sweden and Norway 5,450 471,772 

Holland 1,528 241,676 

Russia Not reported. ' 239,000 

The Sicilies.i. 9,174 213,198 

Austria 6,199 208,551 

Turkey „ 2,220 182,000 

Sardinia 3,502 167,360 

Denmark 3,056 153,408 

Spain 2,700 80,000 



Thus the ratio of American to British tonnao^e then was eighty 

PER CENT. It is now FIFTEEN PER CENT. 



•O' 



56 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

1^0 country has ever possessed such a roll of shipowners,, 
combining in business enterprise and integrity all that is com- 
plete in man, as did the city of Xevv York, at this time, with 
Henry Chauncey, W. H. Aspinwall, G. G. & S. S. Howland,. 
Moses H. Grinnell, Moses Taylor, the Alsops, Cornelius Yander- 
bilt, (before mentioned,) and others, most of whom recognized 
and received "•subsidy''^ for Shipping, from the Government. 

It was about this period that the great shipping house of A. A. 
Low & Co., of 'New York, was established, which firm and 
whose ships are still world renowned ; and now begins the great 
era of American Shipping, through the wisdom of the Demo- 
cratic Party, worthy of imitation now ! 

At this time, of the Democratic administration of Mr. Polk, 
with Mr. Buchanan as Secretary of State, and Mr. J. Y. Mason 
as Secretary of the l^avy, it is recorded in the pages of our 
country's history that " British steamers swarmed around our 
coast, iJ'^'orth and South, as thick as cruisers in a blockade." The 
history of 1776 in Shipping was repeated. 

A congressional committee similar to your own was appointed 
to investigate this disastrous condition of our commerce and in- 
dependence ; and all glory to that committee, and to the Chief 
Magistrate of our country at that time, and his Democratic 
administration, this great question of American Shipping wa& 
studied carefully and practically — not rushed through hurriedly 
" in six days," nor looked upon superficially, but searched 
into thoroughly, practically, and patriotically — and the wise 
result of that Democratic administration is the only page of 
history that has never been repeated. That result was an Act 
of Congress, approved^ March 3, 1847, by which large contracts 
were made for the construction and equipment of sea-going 
steamships, to be attached to the navy, and also for other large 
steamships, to be employed, after construction, in the carrying of 
the United States mails ; such steamers to be constructed so as 
to render them convertible at the least possible cost into war 
steamers, and such contracts for the period of ten years' mail 
service to be made under the direction of the Secretary of 
the Navy and Postmaster General.^ 

1 President James K. Polk, and warmly endorsed by his Cabinet. 

2 Since the above was written, and during the debate in Congress on the pas- 
sage of the bill reported by this Joint Committee, the question arose as to the 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 57 

The causes that led to this wise policy on the part of Mr. Polk 
and of Congress, under his Administration, was the able report, 
June 12, 1846, of another predecessor of this Committee — that 
took time to thoroughl}^ study our shipping — led by the Hon. 
Thos. Butler King, of Georgia. 

The wisdom of this measure is shown by President Polk in his 
message to Congress, December 7, 1847 : 

" The four war steamers authorized by the act of the 3d March, 
1847, are in course of coustruction. 

"In addition to the four war steamers authorized by this act, 
the Secretary of the I^avy has, in pursuance of its provisions, en- 
tered into contracts for the construction of ^ve steamers, to he 
employed in the transportation of the United States mail from 
l^ew York to New Orleans, touching at Charleston, Savannah, 
and Havana, and from Havana to Chagres; for three steamers 
to be employed in like manner from Panama to Oregon, so as to 
connect with the mail from Havana to Chagres across the Isth- 
mus; and for five steamers to be employed in like manner from 
i^ew York to Liverpool. These steamers will be the property of 
the contractors, but are to be built under the superintendence 
and direction of a naval constructor in the employ of the Navy 
Department, and to be so constructed as to render them convertible 
at the least expense into war steamers of the first class. A pre- 
scribed number of naval officers, as well as a post ofiice agent, 
are to be on board of them; and authority is reserved to the Navy 
Department at all times to exercise control over said steamers, 
aiid to have the right to take them for the exclusive use and ser- 
vice of the United States upon making proper compensation to 
the contractors therefor. Whilst these steamships w^ill be em- 
ployed in transporting the mails of the United States coastwise, 

correctness of the endorsement of President Polk's Administration of the policy 
of subsidy for the maintenance of the American ship ; and in the course of the 
discussion the Hon. Mr. Hammond, of Georgia, said: — (Cong. Kec, January 12, 
page 6.) 

" Mr. Hammond, of Georgia. The questions of the gentleman are very numer- 
ous, but the answer to all of them is very simple. On the 3d of March, 1847, 
President Polk signed an act for the building and equipping of /owr naval steam- 
ships, which according to the provisions of the act must be 'first-class sea-going 
steamships, to be attached to the Navy of the United States.' They were to be 
built under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy and officered by the Navy 
of the United States. (See 9 U. S. Statutes, 187.) They were built as war ves- 
sels, under the grant of the Constitution to Congress of power to ' provide and 
maintain a navy.' " 

As this represents only the first clause of the provision of said act, it happens 
appropriate that the full text of such provision, as written by President Polk in 
his message to Congress, December 7, 1847, has been here given. It was unques- 
tionably too wi.5e an act on the part of the Democratic party in behalf of an 
American industry — that would be noble to imitate — to be lost from sight, to tho 
honor of those to whom is due the immortal fame of this patriotic act. 



58 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

and to foreign countries upon an annual compensation to be paid 
to the owners, they will be always ready, upon an emergency re- 
quiring it, to be converted iuto war steamers, and the right re- 
served to take them for public use will add greatly to the efficiency 
and strength of this description of our naval force. To the steam- 
ers thus authorized under contracts made by the Secretary of the 
Navy should be added five other steamers authorized under con- 
tracts made in pursuance of law by the Postmaster-General, mak- 
ing an addition, in the whole, of eighteen war steamers, subject 
to be taken for public use.^ 

"As further contracts for the transportation of the mail to for- 
eign countries may be authorized by Congress, this number may 
be enlarged indefinitely. 

''''The enlightejied policy by which a rapid communication with the 
various distant parts of the world is established, by means of American- 
built sea steamers, loouldfind an ample reward in the increase of our com- 
merce and in making our country and its resources more favorably 
known abroad; but the National advantage is still greater — of 
having our naval officers made familiar with steam naviga- 
tion, and of having the privilege of taking the ships already 
equipped for immediate service at a moment's notice, and will be 
cheaply purchased by the compensation to be paid for the trans- 
portation of the mail, over and above the postage received. A 
just, National pride, no less than our commercial interests, would 
seem to favor the policy of augmenting the number of this de- 
scription of vessels. They caa be built in our country cheaper and in 
greater numbers than in any other in the world. I refer j^ou to the 
accompanying report of the Postmaster General for a detailed 
and satisfactory account of the condition and operations of that 
Department during the past year. It is gratifying to find that, 
within so short a period after the reduction in the rate of postage, 
and notwithstanding the great increase of mail service, the reve- 
nue received for the year will be sufficient to defray all the 
expenses, and that no further aid will be required from the 
Treasur}^ for that purpose. 

"The first of the American mail steamers authorized by the act 
of the 3d of March, 1845, was completed and entered upon the 
service on the first of June last, and is now on her third voyage 
to Bremen and other intermediate ports. The other vessels au- 
thorized under the provisions of that act are in course of con- 
struction, and will be put upon the line as soon as completed. 
Contracts have also been made for the transportation of the mail 
in a steamer from Charleston to Havana. A reciprocal and sat- 



^ Here is President Polk's evidence of eighteen instead of four steamers. Should 
not our Representatives study more carefully the history of our past conditions 
and quote the same completely in historical argument, for it cannot be sympathy 
with foreign industries that causes perversion? 



A Noble Martyr 

TO 

AMERICi^N ENTERPRISE. 




E. K. COLLINS, 

FOUNDER OF THE FIRST AMERICAN STEAMSHIP LINE to LIVERPOOL. 

In his zeal to establish the best record in running time — driven also by the 
exactments of Congress — rashness naturally supplanted judgment, and on the 27th 
of September, 1854, by collision with the Vesta, the Arctic went down. 

Mr. Collins lost wife, son, and daughter, and others nearest and dearest to him. 
Family and fortune were gone, Congress was trifling with him in financial matters, 
and other misfortunes followed in quick succession. 

Through the six years of his contest, the tide of success ebbed and flowed to 
both nations, England stood firm and supported her Cunard by the heaviest 
grants from the British Exchequer ; America weakened — deserted f In the very 
hour of need, we struck down Collins, by abrogating his contract, and tbe United 
States flag went down upon the Atlantic. (See page 65.) 

(69) 



60 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



THE DAYS OF SAIL. 

Sic Transit Gloria. 

THE DAYS OF SAIL. 

Record of the Famous American Vessels of Black Ball Line, 1845. 



Ships. 


New York 

to 
Liverpool. 


Ships. 


Liverpool 

to 

New York. 




Time. 


Time. 


North America - 


Days. 

20 
19 
24 
18 
22 
28 
36 
20 
25 


Cambridge __ 


Days. 
38 


Columbus _ 


Or})heus- __ __ _ _ 


29 


South America _ __ 


Europe _ _ __ __ 


45 


England _ ._ .._ 


Oxford _ _ _-. _ 


35 


Orpheus__ 


S"uth America 


27 


Cambridge 

Europe 

Oxford 


North America 

Columbus _ _ _ 


48 
31 


England _ 


29 


New York 


Orpheus. _. _ 


22 









Average trip outward 23^ days. 

Average trip homeward 33§ " 

Longest trip outward, " Europe " 36 " 

Longest trip homeward, " North America "__ 48 " 

Shortest trip outward, " England " -, 18 " 

Shortest trip homeward, " Orpheus " 22 " 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF STEAM. 
American Ocean Mail Steamers, 1855. 

(From official reports.) 

Collins Line, 3 steamers, 9,727 ions. 

Adriatic, 4,144 tons. Atlantic, 2,849 tons. Baltic, 2,733 tons, 

Arctic. Pacific. 

Havre Line, 2 steamers, 4,548 ions. 

Arago, 2,240 tons. Fulton, 2,308 tons. 

Vanderhilt Bremen Line, 3 steamers, 6,523 tons. 

North Star, 1,867 tons. Ariel, 1,295 tons. Vanderhilt, 3,360 tons. 

Uniied States Mail Steamship Company, 6 steamers, 8,544 tons. 
Illinois, 2,123 tons; Empire City, 1,751 tons ; Philadelphia, 1,238 tons; Granada^ 
1,058 tons; Moses Taylor, 1^200 tons; Star of the West, chartered, 1,172, (con- 
tracting for a new ship.) 

Pacific Mail Steamship Company, 13 siea^ners, 16,421 tons. 
Golden Gate, 2,067 tons; Golden Age, 2,280 tons; J. L. Stephens, 2,189 tons; 
Sonora, 1,616 tons; St. Louis, 1,621 tons; Panama, 1,087 tons; California, 1,085 
tons; Oregon, 1,099 tons; Columbia, 777 tons; Republic, 850 tons ; Northerner, ►' 
1,010 tons; Fremont, 576 tons; Tobago, 189 tons. 

Charleston, Savannah, Key West, and Havana, 1 steamer, the Isabel, 1,115 tons- 
New Orleans and Mexico, 1 steamer, the Tennessee, 1,149^ tons. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 61 

isfactory postal arrangement has been made by the Postmaster 
General with the authorities of Bremen, and no difficulty is 
apprehended in making similar arrangements with all other 
powers, with w^hich we may have communication by mail 
steamers, except with Great Britain (!) 

" On the arrival of the first of the American steamers bound to 
Bremen, at Southampton, in the month of June last, the British 
post office directed the collection of discriminating postages on 
all letters and other mailable matter which she took out to Great 
Britain, or which went into the British post office on their way 
to France and other parts of Europe. The effect of the order of 
the British post office is to subject all letters and other matter 
transported by American steamers to double postage, postage 
having been previousl}^ paid on them to the United States, while 
letters transported in British steamers are subject to pay but a 
single postage. 

" This measure teas adopted with the avowed object of protectiiig the 
British line of mail steamers now running betiveen Boston and Liver- 
pool, and, if permitted to continue, must speedily 'put an end to the trans- 
portation of letters and. other matter by American steamers, and gives 
to British steamers a monopoly of the business. A just and fair 
reciprocity is all that we desire, and on this we must insist T^ 

There is no duplicity in these words of President Polk, but 
his ringing announcement of the necessities for subsidy to 
American mail steamships is in strange contrast to the striking 
harangues of those who misrepresent our shipping conditions in 
and out of Congress. 

Again, the following year President Polk presented in his 
message the benefits reaped under this liberal policy of his ad- 
ministration : 

'' The increase in the mail transportion within the last three 
years has been five million three hundred and seventy-eight 
thousand three hundred and ten miles, whilst the expenses were 
reduced four hundred and fifty-six thousand seven hundred and 
thirty-eight dollars, making an increase of service at the rate of 
fifteen per cent., and a reduction in the expenses of more than 
fifteen per bent. 

" During the past year there have been employed under con- 
tracts with the Post Office Department two ocean steamers in 
conveying the mails monthly between New York and Bremen, 
and one since October last performing semi-monthly service 
between Charleston and Havana ; and a contract has been made 
for the transportation of the Pacific mails across the Isthmus 
from Chagres to Panama. Under the authority given to the 
Secretary of the Navy, three ocean steamers have been con- 



62 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



structed and sent to the Pacific, and are expected to enter upon 
the mail service between Panama and Oregon and the interme- 
diate ports on the first of January next, and a fourth has been 
engaged by him for the service between Havana and Chagres, so 
that a regular monthly mail line will be kept up after that time 
between the United States and our Territories on the Pacific. 
Notwithstanding this great increase in the mail service, should 
the revenue continue to increase the present year as it did in the 
last, there will be received nearly four hundred and fifty thou- 
sand dollars more than the expenditures. "^ * 
Message of December 5, 1848. "James K. Polk." 

Xobly did President Polk fulfill his promise to the country and 
the Party that nominated him to advance commerce, navigation, 
and agriculture. 

And yet all that was then gained, the noble prestige that was 
then established by that Administration, was doomed to destruc- 
tion by the undermining influence brought to bear upon Congress 
by foreign agency to reduce and finally abrogate solemn obliga- 
tions in contracts. The following comparison shows the 

Balance of Bounty against the American Ship in 1851, when the Ship was deserted 

by Congress. (From official figures, "Ocean Navigation.") 

American Merchant Marine. (Created by the Polk administration.) 



Line. 


Trips. 


Distances. 


Subsidy. 


Gross Postage. 


Total Miles. 


Pay per Mile. 


Collins 


20 
13 
13 
24 
24 
24 
24 


3,100 
3,700 


$385,000 
19S or!7 


$415,867 

128,937 

88,484 

139,610 

183,238 

6,288 

5,960 


124,000 
96,000 
85,020 
153,600 
201,000 
32,112 
43,200 


83 10 
1 34 






3,270 1 SS.4S4 


1.00 


Aspinwall 


3,200 

4,200 

669 

900 


290,000 

348,250 

00,000 

29,002 


1.88 
1.70 


Havana 

Vera Cruz 


1.86 
.67 




$1,329,733 


$968,384 


735,532 


$1.80 av'ge. 









Total average per mile, $1.65. Average of five lines, $1.80%. 

British Merchant Marine. 



Line. 


Trips. 


Dis- 
tances. 


Subsidy. 


Gross 
Postage. 


Total 
Miles. 


Pay per 
Mile. 




52 

24 

24 

12 

24 

24 

12 

156 

730 

112 

52 


3,100 
11,402 

14,000 

2,042 

2,718 

6,245 

132 

64 

70 

200 


$806,700 

1 350,006 

1'220,000 

925,000 

73,500 

125,000 

116,250 


$718,337 
534,525 
890,932 
166,408 


304,000 

547,296 

796,637 

336,000 

98,000 

130,434 

14!t,880 

41,184 

93,440 

14,560 

20,800 


$2.85 


Royal Mail 


2.46 




1.53 


Australian . .. 


2.75 


Bermuda and St Thomas 


75 


Panama and Valparaiso 


28,595 
15,980 


C.96 


West Coast Africa 


0.62 










372,150 
180.790 
50,160 




Liv. and Isle of Man.. 


















Total subsidy paid that year... 


$5,313,985 


82,957,877 


2,532,231 


$2.14 av 











Total average per mile, $2.10^. Average of four principal lines, $2.39. 

$1,329,733 American vs. 85,313,985 British Subsidy. 



HEROES OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 




Will our statesmen maintain American Industry 2 



THREE EPOCHS IN AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



sd— sxeam: side-wheel. 



THE MONARCH OF THE ATLANTIC. 

IBS'?. 

' The first iron ship of their fleet (Cunard) the Persia, was dispatched to compete with 
the Adriatic." — Lindsay's British Shipping. 




4,500 Tons, THE liARGEST STEAMSHIP AFIiOAT, 300 Feet liong 

Owned by The Collins Line. Built by George Steers, New York. 



Launched April yth, 1855, but owing to the trifling of Congress with 
the Mail Contract, the financial embarrassments of the Company pre- 
vented the sailing of this great ship until November 23, 1857. 

Sold (by foreclosure) to the British subsidized Galway Line in 1861, 
and held the championship of the seas for years, making a record of 
5 days, 19 hours from Galway to St. Johns. Owned in Russia at last 
accounts. 

CG4) 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 65 

The American ships made the best time, and became the most 
popular and successful. 

The records of Congress show, however, that two years had 
not passed before emissaries from abroad and at home were 
undermining the line and poisoning the minds of our law-makers 
with fallacies of economy and with offers to cheapen the service. 

The mao^nificent industrial struffffle that followed has been 
fully and frequently presented b}^ writers, and in eloquent 
appeals; and it is well known that England greatly increased 
her system of supporting her ocean commerce by (so called) sub- 
sidies, or heavy compensation, not for mail service merely, but 
for national prosperit}^ and pride. 

For awhile American statesmen were aroused, and met the 
contest with a like but moderated policy towards our shipping. 
For six years it waged manfully, fiercely, and nationally. The 
American flag made by far the best record for some time, but in 
such a contest, driven by ISTational insecurity, through weakness 
of statesmen, is it surprising that anxiety and too much enthusi- 
asm created rashness? 

Alas! the pages of the Congressional Kecord cannot be de- 
stroyed as Congress destroyed our Merchant Marine. 

Yielding to foreign influence, the majority of Congressmen 
abrogated these mail contracts, and, scuttled and deserted, our 
Merchant Marine went down on the 27th of September, 1854, 
when the "Arctic " sunk with commander at his post and the 
Washington lad, the young hero, at his gun — sending homeward 
the sad signal of distress and farewell, as if a premonition of the 
doom ot American honor on the Atlantic, and a reprehension to 
the statesmen at the capital of the N"ation, for their trifling admin- 
istration and unfaithfulness in bonded agreement and national 
honor.^ See remonstrances and speeches of statesmen of that 
day, viz: Webster, Bayard, Badger, Clayton, McLane, Hunt, 
Polk, Rusk, and all practical, patriotic statesmen. 

Although family, ships, and fortune were lost, Collins soon 
put forth new zeal and built the Adriatic, still larger and grander, 
and which animated the English to building the Great Eastern, 
built 1858. But one month thereafter, at this moment of greatest 
need, with odds, expenses unlooked for, and losses of ships against 



^ See also following pages under heading "Shipbuilding and Shipwrecks. 
5 H 



66 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

American pluck, a bill was presented in Congress " abolishing the 
present ocean steam service, &c.," which was fought all that ses- 
sion of Congress, but finally passed! 

Meanwhile, in 1853, the " Great Republic," of 4,000 tons, was 
built by our enterprising shipbuilders — the largest ship ever built. 

The building of this ship seemed to create a spasmodic mania 
for tremendous tonnage, and in the determination to exceed us 
the English shippers undertook the elephantine ship of 30,000 
tons, the "Leviathan," alias the "Great Eastern," alias the 
" Great Ship," alias again the " Great Eastern ;" which was com- 
menced in 1853, and not finished until 1858. 

In 1861 this ship brought over 2,000 soldiers at one trip to pro- 
tect the border of Canada in anticipation of trouble during our 
civil warfare. 

The noble spirit of Collins and other of our then prominent 
ship-builders — Brown, Westervelt, Steers, Webb, Harlan, and 
Hollingsworth — struggled for the life of the American ship until 
1857, when weighed down with hope deferred and national de- 
ception and bankruptcy, sunk beneath the main-topsail, the smaller 
shipowners were glad to sell their indiscriminate craft for civil 
warfare and to foreign purchasers. 

If ever one special enterprise has rendered good results to our 
country, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company stands preeminent 
through a faithful service of thirty-five years ; through the period 
of warfare this line only survived and preserved its nationality 
and flag, and in prosperity or adversity of our country, the nation's 
commercial armada, and from time to time America's lone 
guard on the seas. At times prosperous ; at times squandered 
by stockjobbing management; at times on the verge of the abyss 
of a receiver ; for a long time unappreciated and abused in un- 
just identity of stockholder and stockjobber ; saved by one firm 
hand of integrity, that stood between management and a bank- 
rupt decree in 1875-76 ; resuscitated through a hard struggle by a 
wis^ reorganization of a new and thoroughly commercial manage- 
ment, the Pacific Ma[l has not only maintained itself, but with 
the exception of the noble efforts of the Brazil service, has alone 
maintained the maritime credit of our country in foreign seas, 
and is to-day the pride and boast of the nation.^ It is a shame — 

^See also following pages under heading "Seamen and Nautical Education." 



The Lone President 



OF AN 



AMERICAN PASSENGER STEAMSHIP COMPANY 



Solitary and Conspicuous, Firm and Skillful. 




JAMES BUCHANAN HOUSTON. 



Amid the chdnges and trials i)f " Pacific Mail " for the last 10 years, through 
bankruptcy and calumny, the hand and mind that has guided over the breakers 
into waters less tempestuous, the captain that has stood on the bridge through 
storm, and still directs the only fleet of steamships in foreign parts under 

With a nautical and scientific education, an ex-Naval oflScer and descendant of 
the gallant Truxtun, a successful financier, and able disciplinarian, no one was 
more qualified for this peculiarly severe but successful struggle. 

■67) 



THREE EPOCHS IN AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

3<i— IR^OIV STEAl^XSHIPS. 

SHALL AMERICANS OWN SHIPS?"!!! 

YES! IF CONGRESS IS WISE AND PATRIOTIC I 

NO! IF CONGRESS LISTENS TO THEORISTS 

AND 

FOREIGN AGENTS; 

Or to the "glittering generalities" of those who apply dead literature 

to live Industry. 




"CITY OF PEKING" AND "CITY OF TOKIO," 

PACIFIC MAIL COMPANY'S STEAMSHIPS, 
THE FISEST IRON STEAMSHIPS AFLOAT. 

Length 423 feet. 

Breadth 48 " 

Depth 38 " 

Capacity 56^^ tons. 

BUILT BY JOHN ROACH & SONS, 

18 7 3. (C8) 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 69 

a burning shame — that the reward for such service has been the 
abrogation of National or rather Congressional faith. With 
heavy competition from the English and French companies, 
which are richly subsidized under long contracts, bringing and 
carrying, via the Suez Canal to and from our Atlantic side, 
merchandise at lower " through rates " than can be obtained via 
San Francisco to New York, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company 
has had to contend. 

In presenting this consideration and illustration of the fruits 
reaped by that wise provision, the harvest of the labor of that 
practical and far-seeing Committee — in seeing what that bar- 
harvest was, or what would have been the impotent condition of 
our country, even through that decade, that shed a halo of glory 
for once over the American Ship — let us look also at the analogy 
of that period with the present. 

" History has truly been repeated ! " 

And why? Not only do British Steamers swarm in our ports 
North and South, on our Eastern coast, but such steamers are to- 
day evading our Consular Officers on the Pacific coast, by clearing 
from San Francisco for Victoria, and running from there, 
indeed, even directly from San Francisco, to Portland, Oregon,^ 
and there seems no redress for this abuse of our Coasting laws — 
those terrible so-called restrictive laws for which appeal is made 
to you for repeal — for they are imperfect, as shown in the dodg- 
ing of the law and Customs Officers by those vessels in falsify- 
ing their clearance invoices. 

It is the same circuitous dodging practiced so long between 
our Southern ports and the West Indies by British Ships — re- 
peated even now. 

The control of our own Commerce has been wrested from us 
again — entirely on the Atlantic, and almost entirely on the Pa- 
cific;, our ports, their entrance, condition, advantage, and weak- 
ness are known onl}^ — as a thoroughfare and familiarly — by for- 
eign Seamen, while we sit, in investigation, and complain, with- 
out the manliness of a nation to repair our condition and restore 
our honor as a maritime and commercial people, by unfurling 
our flag upon the seas. This inertness, you have been told, is 



^ The British ship Sardonyx is breakins: and dodging our navigation laws at 
this time on our Pacific coast, thus spoliating the trade of our Oregon line, with- 
out fair competition. 



70 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

because we, as Americans, want to build American sbips, 
and to develop American Industries ! Was there ever greater 
duplicity? 

Not only must it be evident that this pretence is untrue, but the 
absurdity thereof and falseness are so apparent that they should 
immediately suggest a deeper research into the true condition 
of the cause of such a result. 

Again and again, history records, one Committee after another, 
appointed to investigate these conditions ; that any year (since 
1865) might have, or may to-morrow involve us in the most em- 
barrassing relations, and make us not only ashamed of our de- 
pendence, but also the abject subjects of foreign adversaries, and 
we are told that our only help is in patronizing foreign ship- 
building ! It is folly to look at these conditions merely in a 
commercial light — as individual or industrial questions simply — 
it is a question of the most vital importance to the perpetuity of 
our national existence that we build our own Ships — that we may 
know how, if we do not know now, as asserted, and be able to 
build them when necessary in emergency.^ 

No nation has ever prospered permanently without shipbuild- 
ing enterprise. 

No nation has ever, nor could have ever, developed such pro- 
digious power, such monopolizing control, influence, and finan- 
cial benefits to the whole people, and under so many interna- 
tional complications, so many home dissensions, so many years 
of agricultural famine and dependence — as has has been the 
peculiar and steady decline in that Industry in Great Britain for 
the last quarter of a century — without shipbuilding thrift. 

This was the diplomacy of England abroad, the charitable 
industrial schools and homes of her working people at home, 
and the sceptre of her prosperity and power, that draws the 
trade of the world to the center of her small domain, London — 
from Yokohama to Suez or to Cape of Good Hope, from St. 
John's to Magellan — around that rich trading coast, wherever 
trade can be found or built up in any part of the globe, '^ it is 
carried to London," which the shipbuilders of Great Britain 
have made the grand commission depot of the world. 

The theories of Adam Smith and of all advocates of" general- 
ities" of principles, whether of so-called free-thinkers, free 
traders, or protectionists, and especially of advocates of Free 
Ships, (see Booty,) are as empty and absurd, when given in argu- 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 71 

ment, in application to England's prosperity and power as it 
would be to assert that her soil had deteriorated in its fertility 
from the application of such economic laws. 

It is shipbuilding that has employed her people, that has yielded 
great results to her people, that has increased the earnings of 
all other trades of her people, (see pow^erful argument of Mr. 
Giffen, President British Board of Trade, under " Bounty,") that 
has returned ten-fold to both people and Exchequer for the 
liberal subsidies granted as investments for such results ; and 
that powder has been developed and is still kept alive by granting 
such subsidy, " bount}'," or w^hatever it may be called, as will be 
seen b}^ reference above given. 

It is this circuitous, this concentrative power in trade, drawm 
to a focus, to London, that is the secret of her diplomatic, com- 
mercial and financial success and prosperity. Does it not pay 
a nation then to subsidize, not shipbuilding, but shipowning ? to 
return a quid pro quo for something given to government and 
people — to pay honestly to an American ship for carrying our 
mails, as w^e pay for such service over land ? Is it honest to deny 
such fair payment — for the United States Government at present, 
through the wily interventions of hired foreign agents, does not 
now pay sufficient for cartage from post office to steamer, (see 
"Bounty,") and yet withholds a "clearance" froni a ship of 
American birth. Such refusal is imposition and subjugation under 
outrageous discriminations in favor of the ships under foreign 
flags. This outrage in our Statutes shows the fine interlineation of 
a hireland's hand, of w^hich the American people are not but wnll 
soon become aware, and hold responsible those w^ho have per- 
mitted such handicapping, injustice, and paral^^zing elBPect upon 
our passenger mail steamships, the cost of supporting which is 
so much increased over packet lines by the necessarj' expense 
of luxurious comforts, speed, &c. (See following pages, Mail vs. 
Packet Lines.) 

It is then the existence of the ship after being built at home 
that needs simply proper and just remuneration, for services ren- 
dered, to revive American Shipping, thus combining the interest 
of the laborer and the merchant — ^a concentration of home power 
in home Industries and in home thrift. 

This great combination is overlooked or misunderstood by our 
people and Congress, but not by the sly agents w^ho trade aw^ay 



72 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

American honor and live by their misrepresentation and per- 
version of facts. 

It is the same rivalry that took from our heroes, the Steers 
Brothers and Stevens, the " prize Yacht cup " of England, in 
1851, and that, in the justice and nobleness of her character, the 
Queen repaired by a personal present, thereby shaming the un- 
fairness of her subjects to our yacht ''America.'^ 

The remarkable foresight of that noble statesman of Georgia^ 
Thomas Butler King, told in 1848 to the American people the 
whole story of to-day in the following forcible words : 

" It is sufficient to show that they (British statesmen) are resolved, as far as prac- 
ticable, to monopolize the intercourse between these two important points. This- 
movement shows clearly that the time has arrived when we must decide whether 
we will yield this essential branch of navigation and this indirect means of ex- 
tending our naval armaments to our great commercial rival, or whether we shall 
promptly extend to our enterprising merchants the necessary means to enable 
them to bring to America energy, enterprise, and sktU into successful competi- 
tion with British sagacity and capital. Of all the lines of sailing packets which 
cross the Atlantic, not one is owned in Europe, and it is not doubted that 
American merchants, properly encouraged, will assuredly excel in them as they 
have done in sailing vessels ; and when we reflect that this may be accomplished, 
to the mutual advantage and advancement of our commercial and military marine, 
it would seem that no statesman ought to hesitate for a moment to give his sup- 
port to a measure which is demanded alike by prudence and the necessities of our 
position," 

is'ow and then great men have gone before Congress to appeal 
for justice in fearless advocacy of the truth, in the face of abuse 
from those unpatriotic interests, which are threatened by every 
proposed revival of American Shipping. 

Of such men whose names will live forever and increase in 
fame and in the affection of our people, is that of Thomas Tiles^ 
ton, whose full-length portrait in the council Chamber of Com- 
merce, New York, looks down suggestively upon its members in 
session, and indignantly upon those who misguidedly, thought- 
lessly, or willfully prate and disseminate the theories and fal- 
lacies of those insidious agents, whose interest it is to paralyze our 
Industry, by attempts at ridicule against the fostering care of Gov- 
ernment, that they may barter away the birthright of the Ameri- 
can Ship, and convert New York Harbor and other of our seaports- 
into grand "orphan" asylums, for the encouragement of tramp 
ships from abroad, thereby creating idleness and ruin at home. 

Had Mr. Tileston lived, his earnestness, courage, and judg- 
ment, together with the magnetic influence he possessed, would 
have aroused statesmen and merchants to defense of American 
rights, ability, and dignity, which he knew so well can never be 
preserved unless we build our own ships. 



THE AMERICAN TYPE 



Mechanic, Journalist, Orator, Banker, and Merchant Shipper. 




THOMAS TIL E S T N , 

(SPOFFOKD & TILESTON,) 

1822—1864. 
Founder of packet lines between Boston, New York, Cuba, and South America. 

" Although I have passed the age of three score and ten, I hope to live to see 
steamship lines established between New York and Rio de Janeiro and San Fran- 
cisco and China, and with this beginning, we may then extend our lines to Eu- 
rope and other places. * * * For, as matters now stand, England has the 
advantage over us. For instance, a merchant in Rio de Janeiro requires an 
invoice of China or Calcutta goods; does he send his order to New York, where 
these goods can be procured in bond as cheap and on as good terms as they can 
be purchasedMn Europe ? No! for the very reason that before his order could 
reach New York, these goods might actually be on the way to him, by means of 
the regular steamship lines plying between England and Brazil. And what is 
applicable to Rio de Janeiro is equally applicable to other ports where her (England's) 
steamship lines have, under a liberal and wise policy of that Government, been 
established.'' — Extract from Memorial of the New York Chamber of Comm.erce to 
Congress, presented by Tileston, Chairman Committee. 

Alas ! Congress did, but also undid, the good work, and to- 
day we are in the same ignominious condition. 

(73) 



74 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 






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HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 75 



THE AGE OF IRON. 



" Who ever heard of floating iron ? " 
"•An iron ship — ifs contrary/ to nature ! " 

Such was the doubt of the world. 

Virginia was the first of the American colonies in which iron 
was found, worked, and pronounced in England " of equal qual- 
ity- to an}'' in the \Vorld." But iron was ignored for the easier 
pursuit of tobacco, or the James river would have been the 
Clyde of America — and may be yet ! 

While we are willino; to concede to Great Britain the credit 
and fame of the development of this great Industrj^ as also that 
of the steam engine, the genius of our Stevens and of our Stock- 
ton, if properly encouraged and aided by foresight in our 
statesmen — as were the progenitors of this greatest of products 
in England — our record and condition would have been in the 
screw propeller and iron ship what Rumsey and Fulton recorded 
for steam navigation. 

ToStevens, Allaire, Collins, Thurston, Sharpe, Morey, Stock- 
ton, Ogden and others, our country owes much ; 3^et while Eng- 
land pensioned those of her sons who endeavored to develop steam 
navigation, American geniuses have been left to struggle and die 
poor, unaided, unrewarded, aye, un remembered — Rumsey espec- 
ially — w^ithout monument, without any recognition but criticism 
and derision, often, for the public benefit rendered. 

Although the first iron ship of this country was built by Har- 
lan & Hollino^sworth in 1843, it was not until 1870 that roUins: 
mills of adequate capacity, and heavy machinery sufficient for 
the building of large iron ships were provided in our country. 
The first iron ship was built in England in 1836 ; and the 
British Lloyds accepted the " Sirius " in 1837 and the " Iron- 
sides " (British) in 18o8. Captain Stockton, of our iJs'avj^ 
ordered, in 1839, a small iron screw steamer in England, and 
sent her home as an experiment and curiosity in American 
waters, but, unfortunately, his endeavor failed to animate his 
countrymen. In 1840 iron for ships was earnestly advocated in 
England, " in deference to the Right Honorable First Lord of the 
Admiralty, then Chancellor of the Exchequer," but was not per- 
fectly utilized until some years after. The knowledge, however, 



76 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

was acquired, and British statesmen foresaw the advantage, and 
abolished their navigation laws in 1849, in order to invite the 
world thither to a ship market, because a monopoly was already 
established of iron ship building and of the carrying of foreign 
trade. 

This was the cause ; this was the " principle of political econ- 
omy ;" this was the philanthropy that moved the abolition of 
the British navigation laws, and which took effect January 1, 
1850. 

The " free-ship '' laws and the commercial laws of Great Bri- 
tain were antipodal in their nature — the former, monopoly; the 
latter, dependence, neither of which peculiarities applies to 
American conditions. 

The iron foundries of our country were inadequate and appar- 
ently incredulous to this new and greatly extended field for their 
Industry. ^ 

The Allaire works were established in the early part of the cen- 
tury — the industrial Alma Mater of Mr. Eoach, who has developed 
more and given more each year to our country by his enterprise 
and skill than the Allaire did during its whole existence — and also 
the " IsTovelty," " Yulcan," " Fulton," '* Morgan," the " Penn," 
(lieany,) and others. All, more or less, were watchful of this new 
application, but were content to pursue the even tenor of "the 
old way" of building ships. 

^ In referring, a few days ago, to the very valuable report of the Honorable 

Mr. Hewitt on the "Depression of Labor," House Mis. Doc. 29, 1879, the writer 

observed, for the first time, the following, as a note to the testimony of Mr. C. H. 

Marshall, page 259, and purporting to be taken from an "Address of Charles H. 

Marshall, February 19, 1878," commenting upon some tabulated official figures 

given by the writer : 

"The following table, taken from a little book called 'Our Merchant Marine,' written by- 
Mr. Charles S. Hill in the advocacy of subsidies, and in the interest of certain shipbuilding yards- 
in this country." 

It seems very singular that that gentlemen should have commented upon a 
matter that he knew nothing about, and thus make such a misrepresentation ; and 
it is not creditable to the high reputation that gentleman bears to do such an 
injustice, as it is well known by some of Mr. Marshall's friends that the work was 
prepared and printed before any one but the writer knew of the intention. 

It is the same reflection thrown at every advocate of American Shipping. 

The writer's inheritance in American Shipping antedates that of Mr. Marshall, 
(of 1817,) and it was, therefore, with the greatest interest and pleasure that Mr. 
Marshall's address (referred to) in the Convention at Washington, February 18, 
1878, was listened to ; but had the above assertion been made at the time alleged, 
it would have been refuted immediately and proven to be untrue. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 77 

Why American iron founders were so slow to see the great 
advantages of iron and of the screw to the ship, and so neglectful 
of the opportunit}^ to grasp the benefits within their reach, at this 
period, when the Polk administration was so patriotic and ready 
to stand b}^ them — and, especiall}^ why the Novelty works did not 
in 1865-1867 build iron instead of wooden ships — is an unwrit- 
ten page of history that contains the explanation of British 
monopoly of our commerce, of our ports, of our birthright, in 
Industry of the prestige of American Shipping. The excuse of 
incredulity cannot be accepted; it is not American. The san- 
guineness — aye, call it proudly " visionary enthusiasm" — of Rum- 
sey, Fulton, Livingston, Roosevelt, Stevens, Rogers, Scarbor- 
ough, as has been shown, was an incentive less reasonable and 
more derided in their day; hence it is to-day incredible that the 
abundant and versatile inventive genius of America — our boasted 
brain capital — failed to utilize the scheme and the occasion. 

But to pardon the omission in 1845 is not to pardon the omis- 
sion in 1865. 

The Novelty works, to which large contracts were given for 
building our Pacific line of steamships, knew or should have 
known better than to have built wooden crafts, that were sure to 
bring disgrace and decrepitude upon our national Shipping repu- 
tation, for oar Shipping is a national Industry ; and as Congress is 
bound to aid it, so aho are our shipbuilders obligated to sustain our 
national honor by the development of their genius in developing and 
enterprise, in continuing the prestige of American Shipping. 

The pioneer developers of iron shipbuilding in our country are 
Mr. Cramp, Mr. Harlan, Mr. Roach, and Mr. Reany, and to 
these iron kings of industry and indomitable zeal our country 
owes a debt that Congress cannot repay, even in millions. 

At last we have a prospect of recovering some, if not all, the 
ground that we have lost; but it requires the mutual determina- 
tion and cooperation of our Congress with our own and not for- 
eign shipbuilders. 

The first Iron steamer built in America was the '' Bangor," 
built in 1843 by the Harlan & Hollingsworth Co., of Wilmington, 
Del., the first firm to combine the shipyard and the foundry in 
the United States — an honor more creditable and patriotic on 
account of the omission on the part of other old works, (as men- 
tioned above.) and of the wisdom and firmness essential under the 



78 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



surrounding discouragements. The firm was established in 1836, 
at which time Mr. Pusey was a member of the firm, but soon re- 
tired, and in 1858 Mr. J. Taylor Gause, who had so long been con- 
nected therewith, became a partner, and is now the head of this 
thriving and splendidly equipped iron shipyard of the Harlan & 
Hollingsworth Co. — with a Dry Dock, of Simpson's patent, capa- 
ble of taking in a vessel of 340 feet in length. And yet British 
historians and journalists write to-day in London, and these 
agents in this country write in our daily journals, that American 
shipyards have " no facilities for building or docking." 

Every Industry, from miner and workman to architect and 
engineer, is herein employed — concentrating nearly fifty trades — 
and has developed from an area of about two acres of ground 
to a frontage of 2,800 feet, on both banks of the Delaware. 

The late head, the venerable Mr. Samuel Harlan, died in Eu- 
rope a few weeks ago. 

The firm of William Cramp's Sons was established in 1830, 
and although it was not for some years after that the facilities of 
iron shipbuilding were developed, this house looked with just 
pride to its claim as one of the oldest shipbuilding firms in this 
country. 




WILLIAM CRAMP, 

Founder of the firm of William Crump's Sons, 
1830. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 7^ 

By 1860 this firm had so greatly developed their foundry 
works and ably applied the solid advantages of iron shipbuild- 
ing, that they were enabled during our late civil war to build 
the most powerful ironclads that the world has- known. It was 
from this yard that came, and by this firm that was built, that 
powerful floating battery, of eight guns broadside, called the 
new " Ironside," that was unquestionably the most terribly 
destructive instrument created durino^ that terrible conflict. ^ 




THE NEW "IRONSIDE," 

(The death monster of Battery Wagner, Charleston Harbor. 

1863. 

Americans dan build Ships — let them try ! 



1 Of the fearful death results of this ship in its bombardment of Battery Wag- 
ner, Morris Island, Charleston Harbor, in July and August, 1863, the writer 
bears personal testimony as one on artillery duty at that point. The nearing of 
the several Monitors for the evident purpose of opening fire — even in concert of 
action with the land batteries of the Union forces — was regarded with compara- 
tive indifference to the approach of this Ironside "death monster," as we termed 
it, that so frequently ricocheted her full broadside upon our &and Fort, shaking 
the Island to its very center, always striking with remarkable accuracy upon the 
«5ame point, caving in our forty-foot traverses, and temporarily burying us with 
an avalanche of sand, or sending so frequently the forms of many noble comrades 
in fragments into the air. Hallowed be their memory ! 



80 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

England may boast of her programme of ironclad ships which 
shook the foundation of Alexandria, but the world will quake 
wherever this American ship opens her broadside port-hole in 
naval action. 

It was this firm that built the splendid ships for the Araericari 
Line, 1 of Philadelphia, which, although so entirely complete and 
staunch, have recently been converted into freight packets, be- 
cause of the impossibility to make a passenger mail line pay ex- 
penses peculiar to such service. The Penn Works, (Reany & Co.) 
of Philadelphia, established in 1838, are also building iron ships 
that can class with the ships of the Clyde. 

The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company recently 
built extensive works for building iron colliers, but abandoned 
the idea. ^ 

The spirit and judgment that was not only conspicuous and 
greatly beneficial to the Pilgrim Fathers in Grovernor Winthrop, 
in 1630, is peculiarly, conspicuously alike in Mr. John Roach, 
our great (iron) shipbuilder of to-day. What Governor Win- 
throp did for the Colonies Mr. Roach has done for our country, 
and he deserves the deepest gratitude of our countrymen, and 
their posterity will read in the pages of history, as lasting as 
oiir country's fame — w^ien their interested traducers will have 
passed from notoriety as they pass from sight — encomiums 
to their enterprise and determination in so advancing American 
Shipping to the standard of Al, and in model, comfort, and 
completeness, unequaled in the world. 

There is to-day but one iron shipyard in Great Britain that 
even equals this burgh of every Industry. Mr. Roach built up the 
Etna Works by degrees, and has since bought the machinery of 
the Allaire ; also, in 1868, the Morgan Iron Works ; and further, 
in 1872, he developed his grand shipyard at Chester. 

The iron tonnage built in the, yards of these three largest 
American shipbuilders has been as follows : 

T071S. 

The Harlun & Hollingsvvorth Conipan}' G4.696 

"William Cramp & Sons 04,397 

John Koach & Son 146,093 

Grand total 275,580 

If those shipyards are blamed for the small amount of tonnage 

^ See " Shipbuilding Conditions;" 

2 Since the above was prepared, these works have been purchased by Capt. J. J. 
Gorringe and others, and active Industry has been established. 



Tlie Most Abused, yet tlie Best, Friend of American Labor 



AMERICAN SHIPPING 

I3sr OTHIE XJITITEID STJ^TES. 




JOHN EOACH. 

When we tead in the mistitled but able work on shipping by Mr. "W^ells, 
page 5, that "nine-tenths of the Colonial merchants were mere smugglers; that 
one quarter of all the signers of the Declaration of Independence were bred to 
commerce, to the command of ship«, and to contraband trade; that Hancock, 
Trumbull, (Brother Jonathan,) and Hamilton were known to be cognizant of, or 
participants in, contraband transactions, and approved of them ; that Hancock 
was the prince of contraband traders, with John Adams as his counsel," is it not 
natural to hear those who admire such caricatures, chiming in similar abuse of the 
man whose energy, earnestness, and integrity have developed American shipbuild- 
ing, and whose pay roll contributes 832,000 per week to American labor? 



8h 



(81) 



82 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



HISTORY OF THE PAST AND PEESENT. 

MESSAGE 

President Washington, January 16, 1794. 

I transmit for your information certain intelligence lately re- 
ceived from Europe, as it relates to the subject of my past com- 
munications. 

George Washington. 

The following is an extract from such : 

*'To force ship-huilding is to establish ship-yards; is to form 
magazines; to multipty useful hands; to produce artists and 
workmen of every kind, who may be found at once for the peace- 
able speculations of commerce and for the terrible wants of war." 

" To force ship-building at home is to augment navigation, by the 
necessity of seeking timber [to-day, iron]; is to increase vessels 
for transportation; is to augment the number of sailors; is to 
augment the benefits of freight; is to centuple our exchanges, 
our commercial relations, and our profits." 

^^ For a navigating people to purchase its marine afloat ivould be a 
strange speculation, as the marine would always be dependent on 
the merchants furnishing them. Placing, as a reserve, with a 
foreign nation, or in a foreign ship-yard, the carpenters, black- 
smiths, calkers, sailmakers [and, far more to-day, ironmongers], 
and the vessels of a nation, would be a singular commercial com- 
bination! We must, therefore, build them for ourselves." 

Although not the words of Washington, by the above message 
he endorsed the sentiments as his judgment and advice. Were 
he President to-day, and this his message, (see American State 
Papers,) some of the ]N"ew York papers would editorialize him as 
a jobbist and subsidist. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



83 



here exhibited, it is the fault of Congress, and not, as insinuated, 
inability! There are but two pleas for such an assertion as ina- 
bility — want of full information or wilful misrepresentation. 

If these ship-yards do not largely increase this amount propor- 
tionately, yearly, hereafter, the fault will rest upon the failure in 
the harmony of your Committee's report. 



OUR PRESENT MERCHANT MARINE — IRON AND WOOD. 

Registered Vessels of the United States, 1878-1882. 

Kindly furnished from the office of the Register. 





1878. 


1880. 1882. 

1 


Steam vessels, wood 

do. iron 


Ships. 

130 
43 

173 


Tons. 

91,815 
79,023 


Ships. 

88 
44 


Tons. 

56,462 
90,142 


Ships. 

81 
53 


Tons. 

51,588 
102,982 


Total steam __ _ _ 


170,838 


132 


146,604 


134 


154,570 






Sailing vessels, wood 

"do.- iron 


1,863 
1^ 


1,459,747 
462 


2.245 
If 


1,205,115 
1,091 


2,049 
2 


1,135,636 
2,088 


Total sail- _ . 


1,864 


1,560,209 


2,246 


1,206,206 


2,051 


1,137,724 






Total registered vessels 


2,037 


1,629,047 


2,378 


1,352,810 


2,185 


1,292,294 



Lost. 



t British wreck redeemed. 



Bark Annie Johnson, iron, 997 tons, is enrolled at San Fran- 
cisco. There are two sailing vessels of iron, with total tonnage 
81 tons, enrolled at New York. 

Of steam, six ships, (wood,) 531 tonnage, are on the lakes. 

Of sail, twenty-two ships, (wood,) 8,847 tonnage, are on the 
lakes — hereafter to be deducted from Merchant Marine. 

The events connected with the United States and Brazil line 
under the administration of 1865-1875, and the eitbrts made since, 
at heavy personal loss to re-establish that service, are fresh in 
your minds, and, it is to be hoped, fully appreciated as to the facts 
rather than the fictions written in essays and books in the inter- 
est of the foreign lines that now make a circuitous line between 
that country, the United States, and Great Britain. 

It has been published in an anti-American steamship argument 
that "since the withdrawal of the Roach monthly steamer be- 
tween New York and Brazil, two lines of steamers carrying 



84 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

the British flag have come on in its place, carrying merchandise 
at lower charges and the mails as promptly and more fre- 
quently." 

This is so absolutely incorrect that the soft expression in favor 
of the foreign line can only account for the misrepresentations. 
So contrary is the fact, that such service takes, and indeed our 
United States Minister was, three months en route; and where 
now are those steamers ? 

So deepl}^ interested in the condition, the progress, and the 
chances of our shipping are our friends across the waters, that 
every action is watched and reported, every result cabled the 
same day, by order of high authority, and obedience by subordi- 
nates and agents. 'Tis strange, but true. 

The befriender of the American ship is looked upon with dis- 
like; the indefatigable American ship-builder is hated, abused, 
and misrepresented, oflicially, semi-officially, and privately, as the 
following will, in a single evidence, of many evidences at hand, 
prove : 

[^From the British Trade Reports of June, 1880.] 

AMERICA ATTEMPTS TO GAIN FREE MARKETS AND OCEAN CARRYING 

TRADE. 

In my report on the American Carrying Trade, which appeared 
in Trade Reports, current number 17, 1878, I pointed out the 
means taken to further this. Mr. Roach, the ship-builder at 
Chester, in Pennsylvania, had then tried, but ineffectually, to 
obtain from Congress a subsidy to enable him to extend Ameri- 
can trade with Brazil, he having acquired one from Brazil of 
$100,000 per year for ten j^ears. Mr. R. has again renewed his 
attempt on Congress, &c. 

And yet American statesmen stand idle or permit our great 
shipping interest to lie dormant, to be possessed by foreign skill, 
foreign capital, and profit from foreign subsidy, with picking of 
bones from our own penny-mail payments. 

Wh}^ are our most indefatigable manufacturers ridiculed and 
abused abroad and, sad to say, at home, when their lives 
are exemplary and their characters, noted for integrity and 
honor? Why is Mr. Roach thus signalled out in a reflecting 
manner for his enterprise ? With indomitable perseverance, 
remarkable ability, and sanguine faith, he has labored nobly, 
patriotically, and successfully, and can challenge the world to 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 85 

excel — even to-day — his iron ships, the Pekin and Tokio. For 
years the British Lloyds and all foreign commercial interests — 
of the writer's personal knowledge — endeavored in the Asiatic 
ports and in our own ports to decry and belie these steamships 
by the most wilful misrepresentations, and were aided in this 
effort by stockjobbing operations in Wall street ; but, neverthe- 
less, time has worn out the falsehoods ; but those noblest steamships 
afloat have worn out time and defy all calumny that has caused 
such queries as that appearing to — because it actually did not — 
emanate from your Committee, viz. : " Question 1st. Why can- 
not this country build iron "^ * vessels?" 

This great industry is now struggling grandly for existence. 
Senators and ^Members, will you, like the far-sighted British 
statesmen, develop it, or like their adversaries, aid in destroying 
its existence ? 

Ever}^ investigation of Congress has strangely ended in conclu- 
sions more adverse to the petty features of those conditions that 
handicap American Shipping, viz : fees of consuls,^ who are al- 
most starved already; the fees of the tempest-tossed pilot,^ local 
and tonnage fees, and many other small points, rather than in 
findino; the true cause in sensible and scientific studv of the 
real non-apparent obstacles, and the means for removing such 
causes. 

In fact, there has appeared to be more a desire, on the part of 
investigating committees, not to find out the true cause than to 
really ascertain what has been the impediment. 

Some few patriots — in every Congress — have repeated the en- 
deavor, and considered, with spirited discussion, the yearly favor- 
able Report of the Committee on Post-roads, looking to the revival 
of our Merchant Marine, but each effort has been met by a rush 
thitherward of notorious foreign agents, and with misrepresenta- 
tions made to the majority of Senators and Members. Defeat has 
resulted through these emissaries of foreign Steamship Lines or 
Agents of foreign capital — lobbyists, partners, agents, or con- 
signees of foreign houses — who have found it more profitable to 
act thus under a foreign flag rather than to bear the yearly losses 
and deterioration of their business under our shipping condi- 

^ See Exhibit of Consular Fees. 
2 See following pages — " Pilot Fees." 



86 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

tions. From the want of appreciation of our Congressmen, each 
one of such bills has been defeated. 

When your Joint Committee was appointed, and the names that 
comprised the Committee were heralded throughout the country, 
there was a thrill of joy and a hope of relief indulged and ex- 
pressed from our seaports to the interior of our land. 

The country remembers those eloquent and patriotic words by 
the distinguished Representative from Maryland, Mr. McLane, 
who, thirty-one years ago, in the House of Representatives, while 
defending a Bill for the Encouragement of Building our own 
Ships, said : 

"I have voted and will continue to vote to give a liberal dona- 
tion, a liberal sum of money to carry the mails between New 
York and Liverpool, between other cities and foreign countries, 
where foreign lines have established lines. I can well conceive 
that the nations of Europe would establish lines from our coasts 
to points in Europe, which would be ready to act on the offen- 
sive. * * Though the contracts that existed are loosely made, 
I for one am willing to stand by those contracts and sustain them. 
I will maintain them against the world, if need be. I am quite 
willing to see this Government interposing to protect its citizens 
against the monopolies established by Great Britain, France, or 
any other foreign country." 

And also, and particularly, the many brilliant and pathetic 
appeals, in patriotic strains, that have echoed through the walls 
of our Capitol, and reverberated throughout our land, from the 
distinguished Representative of New York, Mr. Cox, in eloquent 
demands for protection of American citizens abroad, American 
rights, American life-saving service, American labor, and indeed, 
all that is American — that he is expected by every American to 
be a " protector " of American Industries — especially of the 
American ship, which combines all Industries — and that glowing 
tribute of his to our past laurels and prestige, and the hope given 
for the future, is fresh in the ears of our people. 

" For reasons not necessary now to elaborate, connected with 
the models, proportions, size, and lading of vessels, the percentage 
of total loss in the American Mercantile Fleet is, to our credit, only 
about one-half of the British marine. Strength and buoyancy to 
carry safely upon the sea are indispensable conditions to human 
security and profitable trade. The time is not far distant, I trust, 
for the old renown of our American Shipping under liberal 

POLICIES." 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 87 

Here is the key-note given. " Under liberal policies,'^ most truly 
said, only, can American Shipping be revived. 

That hope indulged and enjoyed for a season has, always, soon 
been dispelled and gladness turned into disappointment and 
sorrow. Such " history has been yearly repeated! " 

The series of questions, issued only a few days after the an- 
nouncement of the appointment of ^'our Joint Committee, at 
once threw a shadow of prejudice, unfortunately — no matter how 
unjustly — over your deliberations, from the peculiar converse 
tenor of their phraseology. 

They were the same old familiar evasions and perversions — 
instead of open inquiries — that somehow come out in stereotyped 
expression at ever}^ "Investigation ordered to search into the 
Condition of our Shipping," and appeared in three of our dailj^ 
^ew York journals. 

It was evident that these questions were not matured by 
any one of your honorable body, and it appeared useless to argue 
the subject upon interrogatories that actually prejudged con- 
clusions. 

Since reading, however, the telegraphed extracts of the testi- 
mony being given before your Committee, in New York, by the 
Shipping Commissioner, whose office is one of the encumbrances 
or burdens upon our Shipping and Shipowners; and also of the 
oonsideratiou by your committee of a "prize essay" that 
emanated from an academic contest, rather than from the prac- 
tical experience and wisdom of old seamen, and also of a decla- 
ration from one who has given his whole vitality, physically and 
mentally, for the last quarter of a century, to British Shipping 
interests — or so-called free ships — and who has done more harm 
to American Shipping and made more misrepresentations 
thereof than any other living man- — that he represented fifty 
millions of people, but has not a dollar in American Shipping 
or American Industry; it becomes the dut}^ of everj^one to make 
^n appeal' to your Committee to ascertain truth, by a deeper 
research and a longer consideration by your able members into 
a politico-economic question, that is second to none in import- 
ance to the present and future prosperity of our country. 

When such a declaration is made that Subsidy is not demanded, 
^nd that Free Ships are needed and wanted, for whose interest is 
the appeal made ? Not in the interest of men who are, and who 



88 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

represent American commercial interests ! The official records of 
our country stamp a most pronounced refutation upon such asser- 
tions. 

Are you to believe such loose assertions as the foregoing, or 
the appeals of men East and West, who have publicly recorded 
their remonstrance against and denunciations of such misrepre- 
sentation and of such Congressional tergiversation, when the 
anacondas hissed at American shipping and the weak minds were 
influenced to believe in punishing the Pacific Mail Steamship 
Company because the stockjobbers had seized and pillaged her 
treasury. 

The " voice of the people " — part of our 50,000,000 — here speak,, 
not by proxy, but for themselves, and representing the pure busi- 
ness of the country, appeal for "Subsidy" or bounty without 
fear or mumbling : 

^ Senate \ ^^'^- ^^^' 

43d Congress, ' senate. ^ ^^^ ^^2. 

^'^ ^''''''' \ House oe Representatives. { ^^l'^ ^^'.^; 
JRemonstrance of California Merchants. 

May 11, 1874. — Keferred to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads 
and ordered to be printed. 



San Francisco, Cal., May 8, 1874. 
To the honorable the Senators and Representatices to Congress from 
the Pacific coast ^ Washington, D. C: 

The policy of the California Legislature in regard to the Public 
Mail Steamship Company subsidy is suicidal, the result of tem- 
porary infatuation. If confirmed by Congress will involve the 
loss a large portion of the oriental trade to American shipping 
and throw it into the hands of subsidized English lines, which, 
with the aid they receive from the British government, can carry, 
via Suez and London, at little more than half the cost by Amer- 
ican lines running direct to this port. The Peninsular and 
Oriental English Company have a subsidy of over $2,000,000 
per annum, making it impossible to compete with them with- 
out this further subsidy. The refusal of Congress is almost tanta- 
mount to a surrender of the carrying trade to the English, and 
a loss of a large portion of the direct trade to this port. Since 
the establishment of the China line our trade increased from 
one thousand tons tea in 1867 to over ten thousand tons in 1871,> 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 89 

and other merchandise in proportion. To provide for further 
increase pending the construction of new steamers the Pacific 
Mail Steamship Company employed outside vessels, when the 
Peninsular and Oriental Company, to keep the trade, dropped 
their rates so low that the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, 
without the additional subsidy asked for, could not compete, and 
our direct trade fell ofi* to seven thousand eight hundred tons. 
With the subsidy, the trade could be retained and increased 
to the entire amount of American consumption, and to the great 
benefit of American interests here and in all the large cities of 
the Western States, as we have the advantage on time required 
for transit b}^ a direct route. It is needless to dwell upon the 
vast importance of the oriental trade to the nations controlling 
it. We can have it with half the aid from our Government that 
England gives to her steamers, and the advantage to our Gov- 
ernment will far more than compensate. 

The Pacific Mail Steamship Company are the pioneers in the 
direct trade ; have no American competition ; and have estab- 
lished a line and prepared for trade at enormous expense, relying 
upon the laws of Congress. They are entitled to aid. The sub- 
sidy cannot be refused without violation of the American prin- 
ciple of protection to home interests, extended to every other 
branch of our commerce. The past action of Congress has crip- 
pled and almost destroyed the efiiciency of our merchant marine ; 
and it is now time to adopt the more liberal and wise policy 
which the long experience of England has found essential to that 
most important interest and to the increasing demand of com- 
merce for rapid communication, which has made all nations her 
tributaries. 

W. F. Babcock, B. Poixotto Frank & Co. 

President Chamber of Commerce. Locke & Montague. 

Parrott & Co. W. & I. Stinehart & Co. 

Wm. Alvord. Loup & Haas. 

Lafayette Maynard. Geo. 0. McMullen & Co. 

Fredk. F. Law. F. B. Faylor & Co. 

G. T. Lawton. Marcus C. Hawley & Co. 

Geo. II. Howard. Reddington, Ilostetter & Co. 

Thomas H. Silby & Co. C. Adolph Lowe & Co. 

Kittle & Co. Williams, Blanchard & Co. 

John Parrott. Wm. T. Coleman & Co. 

Castle Bros. H. P. Walker. 

William Peck & Co. David D. Cotton. 

Murphy, Grant & Co. J. C. L. Wedsworth. 

B. M. Hartshorn. J. W. Reymond. 

Luis, Sloss k Co. Jones & Co. 

Wooster, Shattuck & Co. Oliver Eldridge. 

Wilmerding & Kellogg. M. Heller Bros. 



90 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



W. W. Dodge & Co. 
Brittain, Holbrook & Co. 
Phillips, Tabor & Co. 
Whittier, Fuller & Co. 
Ernstein Bros & Co. 
McCain, Flood & McClnre. 
Tubbs & Co. 

Hosenbaum & Friedman. 
Isaac Friedlander. 
Levi Strauss & Co. 
Bacbman Bros. 
D. K & E. Walter & Co. 
Scbolle Bros. 

Michaels, Friedlander & Co. 
L. & M. Sachs & Co. 
Morrison, Harris & Co. 
Hoffman & Co. 
Weilcahn & Co. 
Schweitzer, Sachs & Co. 



A. B. Forbes, Crane & Brigham. 

Farwell & Co. 

J. D. Farwell. 

Baker & Hamilton. 

W. C. Ralston. 

Geo. C. Johnson & Co. 

^eustadter Bros. 

Christy & Wise. 

L. & E. Evertheimer. 

L. Denkelspiel. 

Albert Man & Co. 

A. S. Eosenbaum & Co. 

Weil, Woodleof, Hooker & Co. 

Frankenthal & Co. 

Richard Patrick & Co. 

E. E. Morgan's Sons. 

Jacob Underbill & Co. 

A. Haj^vard. 

Helbins' & Strauss. 



This was followed the next year with an appeal of the repre- 
sentatives of American interests in ISTew York, that Congress 
preserve inviolate the bonded contract and honor of our country. 



Memonstrance from Neio York Merchants. 

SENATE. 



J Mis. Doc. 
\ No. 94. 



43d Congress, 1 
2d Session. J 

February 17, 1875. — Ordered to lie on the t^ble and be printed. 

New York, February/ 16, 1875. 
To the Congress of the United States : 

The undersigned, bankers, merchants, and others of the city of 
New York interested in the trade with China and Japan, have 
viewed with great solicitude the recent proceedings in Congress 
towards a withdrawal of the semi-monthly mail- service between 
those countries and San Francisco. 

They w^ould, therefore, respectfully represent to your honora- 
ble body that the interests of all engaged in this trade would suf- 
fer irreparable injury in its discontinuance. 

The large and rapidly increasing commerce between the East- 
ern and Western hemispheres, yet in its infancy, needs the sus- 
taining support of Government to develope it by aiding this com- 
pany to meet the increasing wants of the merchantile community; 
and a withdrawal of mail-facilities would be fatal to progress. 
We consider that the vast commercial interests of the country at 
large in the maintenance of the said line are of paramount im- 
portance to that of this or any other company. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



91 



Your petitioners, therefore, respecfully remonstrate against 
annulling the contract with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company 
for the said service, and humbly pray that you will give their pe- 
tition full consideration. 



A. A. Low & Brothers. 

Drexel, Morgan & Co. 

Howland & Aspinwall. 

Wetmore, Cryder & Co. 

Fabbri & Chauncey. 

Bucklin, Crane & Co. 

Oary & Co., 90 Pine street. 

Wm.H. Foggs & Co. 

Olyphant & Co., China. 

Beebe & Brothers. 

Wood, Pay son & Colgate. 

John Middleton & Co. 

W. H. Smith & Son. 

Thompson, Knapp & Co. 

Hewlett & Torrance. 

E. P. Arensted & Co. 

Carter, Hawley & Co. 

E. W. Corlies. 

Ered'k Mead & Co. 

Frazar & Co., of China. 

Spencer & Havemeyer. 

New York Mutual Insurance 
Company, by John 11. Lyell, 
president, 

Union Mutual Insurance Com- 
pany, by F. Stagg, vice presi- 
dent. 

H. K Thurber & Co. 

London, Asiatic and American 
Compan}', James Purdon. 

Harper & Goadby, agents Cana- 
dian Bank of Commerce. 

H. A. Tuzo, agent Bank of 
British North America. 

John II. Draper & Co. 



E. D. Morgan & Co. 

Atlantic Mutual Insurance Com- 
pany, by Charles Dennis, vice 
president. 

M ercan til e M u tual Insu ran ce 
Company, Ellwood Walter, 
president. 

Orient Mutual Insurance Com- 
pany, by Eugene Deutilly, 
president. 

Great Western Insurance Com- 
pany, Ferd. Molz, president. 

W. K. Jessup, Paten & Co. 

John Caswell & Co. 

Caleb F. Smith & Co. 

J. B. M. & R. Montgomery. 

Geo. W. Lane & Co. 

Sheldon, Banks & Co. 

H.B. Claflin & Co. 

J. & W. Seligman & Co. 

J. & S. Wormser. 

The Silk Association of America, 
b}' Franklin Allen, secretary. 

Cheney Brothers. 

Wm. Ryle. 

Wm. Strange & Co. 

B. Richardson & Son. 

Geo. B. Skinner & Co. 

Hamil & Booth. 

I). O'Donoghue & Co. 

B. B. Tilt & Son. 

Dexter, Lambert & Co. 

Wm. II. Horstmann & Sons. 

Thos. K. Dale. 

Jno. N. Stearns & Co. 



These prominent Americans should be deducted from Mr. 
Codman's mythical "fifty millions " opposed to subsidy. It is im- 
possible to express more pungently the injustice of Congressional 
action in the above case of breaking the national faith by abro- 
gating a sealed contract, than in words of one of your Committee, 
in a similar service, and in a minorit}^ report, June 22, 1871: 



92 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

" The concluding portion of the unreasonable report of the 
majority of that committee reads as follows : 

"If fraudulent means were used to secure the additional subsidy, even if the 
present managers of the company are entirely innocent in the matter, as we as- 
sume they are. Congress should not hesitate to declare the subsidy forfeited on 
any ground, either real or technical." 

From which outrageous decision the Hon. Mr. Page dissented, 
and the absurdity of which he exposed, as follows : 

" With this I would heartily concur if there was any evidence 
before the committee as to any corrupt means being used ; but 
as there is no such evidence, I have no hesitation in concurring 
with the above rcDort o-f the minorit}^ as to the legal questions- 
involved. ' ''H. F. PAGE." 

What informed or sensible man will say candidly that a Free 
Ship privilege wdll provide subsistence for the family of the ship-- 
owner or yield one dollar more profit than an American-built 
ship ? 

Are the Jeannette and Gulnare illustrations of the free, or, 
properly, foreign-shipping theory? There are plenty of decayed 
craft ready to be patched up and sold cheap to any one who 
could be so credulous as to practice the Free Ship theory. It is 
said that " subsidies by our Congress w^ould please British ship- 
builders." Then why do they make such a fuss against it? 

Decayed craft and surplus stock swarm in the waters of the 
European coasts. Ship-building has been greatly overdone for 
many years in Great Britain. The valuable reports by the 
United States Consuls have made such exhibit for some time. 
There is not a shipping merchant who goes to Europe who is not 
importuned by competitors there, ready to cut each other's rates 
to get off their heavy stock, like IN'ew York builders with their 
blocks of houses, and, in '• the tricks of the trade," some bargains 
are offered to catch the next customers ! 

It is not the price of the ship that has injured our shipping 
or our maritime honor; it is the enemy in sheep's clothing 
who traduces every one who risks his capital to build up this 
American industry, or who strives to prove the true treachery 
so cunningly hidden and protected by the power of money and 
journalism. Such treacherj^ to American industry is without 
parallel in the records of any other country. In our civil strife, as- 
young men of the South, vv^e were open enemies in warfare; 
but while we were fighting in the field there was an enemy who 
4u 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 93 

was more than enemy, who was and is sfell treacherously under- 
.mining the noble prestige of American honor on the seas by 
quietly and insidiously working like the worms and the barn- 
acles at the bottom of the American ship in the interest of 
British ship-builders. 

The young men of the South despise such means of an enemy, 
and will rally to the support of our flag over our industries and 
over the seas. We cannot be deceived. We will not be sold 
out in labor and honor by those who with so much suaviter 
plead that paying for carrying our mails is stealing. Such 
nonsense won't do. We want to see our ship-yards active and 
our ship-owiiCrs paid honestly for the service they render and 
our honor that they uphold. 

Long experience in commercial associations, with peculiar facil- 
ities as regards commercial education and information upon the 
Shipping of the world while connected with the Pacific Mail 
Steamship Compan}^, and while, at the same time, watching and 
studying the conditions and relation of the Industries of ever}- 
nation ; and for several years in a wider and better field for learn, 
ing the world's commercial and industrial condition in develop- 
ment and for research — analyzing the economic problems pre- 
sented in the reverses and successes of each nation — may be 
considered a reasonable incentive to the deepest interest and a 
qualification for impartial judgment in ofi:ering an opinion and 
pleading upon this subject, which has been and is being so ter- 
ribly misrepresented, neglected, trifled with, and destroyed — and 
why ? Sim^ply from the want of proper and thorough research 
into the non-apparent causes that have, and are still, producing 
such consuming results. 

It is with feelings of mortification and indignation that we see 
the humiliating commercial foreign despondence of our Monu- 
mental city at present, and read the following colloquy from one 
of our recent journals, which illustrates so clearly our menial 
maritime condition : 

" Not long ago, while waiting in Baltimore harbor for an in- 
bound boatj we beguiled the time by going on board of an English 
steam freight-ship awaiting her turn at the elevators for a cargo 
of grain. We asked the captain what port he last hailed from. 

" He said, ' Liverpool.' 

" ' What cargo did you bring ?' 



94 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

" ^ Iron in ballast.' 

" ' How can you make it pay,' we asked, ' to make your return 
trips in ballast ?' 

"'Oh,' said he, 'we make three-cornered trips. We bring^ 
English iron to the United States in ballast. That helps our 
manufacturers to climb your Tariff. Then we ship a load of your 
wheat, which has no market except in our ports, and we make 
your wheat pay the freight both ways ! ' 

" ' But how can you do that ?' 

" ' Simply because we command the situation,' replied the 
Englishman. ' Your wheat has no market except in England, 
and you have no means of getting it there except in English ships.' 

" So our worthy British cousin made our wheat pay not onl}^ 
the freight on itself to his market, but the freight on his pig-iron 
to ours ! 

"And yet we have heard our statesmen say that this country 
did not need a merchant navy, for the reason that the English 
shi^ps carried everything at such reasonable rates! " 

Is Maryland, " my Maryland," becoming England's ? 

How true this is known to be by our statesmen ; yet how 
strange that this condition has been permitted to grow yearly, 
from neglect of American Shipping, until to-day eighty-jive 
per cent, of American trade is controlled by foreign shipping — 
and a proportion of home industry and profit lost by Great 
Britain's monopoly far greater than by any other country. 

The Secretary of State, in his recent letter on the " Com- 
merce of the World," the most valuable as well as recent econ- 
omic work extant, says : 

" The British flag covers 1.70 tons to 1 ton covered hy the German flag in the 
trade between both countries. 
Tons. 
2.21 to 1 by Dutch flag, in the trade between both countries. 
2.81 to 1 by Austrian flag, ditto. 
3.97 to 1 by Belgian flag, ditto. 
5.12 to 1 by French flag, ditto. 
5.51 to 1 by Italian flag, ditto. 
8.00 to 1 bv Spanish flag, ditto. 
8.20 to 1 by Eussian flag, ditto. 
10.58 to 1 by American flag, ditto." 

Here we are presented officially our actual condition, the most 
humiliating of any first-class nation in the world; and this de- 
cline is due solely to one cause, viz., the wily, underhanded, 
domino agents of foreign shipping interests, harping their flatter- 
ing words into the ears of our rulers, that " it is better to let the 
British Exchequer pay her ships to run ours off than to notice 
so trivial a monopoly." ^ 

^ See Message of Washington on tbis point, page 82. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 95 

Nothing has ever been written more forcibly expounding the 
true conditions and results of this monopoly that enslaves all 
Americans to-day than the following from a recent report of 
U. S. Consul Potter, of Crefeld, Germany : 

" It is undoubtedly the interest of European powers to monopolize, as far as 
possible, the carrying trade of the United States. They know that the flag of a 
nation carries influence, and that the people all over the world are largely swayed 
in forming their judgment of the power and productive capacity of a country 
by the frequency with which its flag appears at the mast-head of its commercially 
laden ships. Often seen in foreign ports, it engenders respect and confidence, 
and thus opens new avenues to healthy trade. If the commerce of the American 
States was conducted in American bottoms, their ships would dot the seas in every 
climate, and their flag be familiar in all parts of the world. By building and sail- 
ing American ships, something more would, therefore, be accomplished for the 
country in reviving active idustries in American shipyards, and furnisning employ- 
ment to thousands of mechanics and sailors. The great commercial benefits arising 
from international intercourse would be secured, and the principles of peace and 
civilization steadily advanced." 

But here is something more, and clearly one of those " gen- 
eral and beautiful principles " of free trade, published only a few 
days since in one of our leading New York journals, show- 
ing how stupid we are in not seeing that by building up and en- 
riching British shipbuilders they will soon have " Booty enough^^^ 
and then stick Americans with high prices, and force them, some years 
hence, in shame and want, to come hack to '^ first principles " of charity 
at home — American shipbuilding. 

Here is the douceur : 

"An Englishman thoroughly familiar with the official statistics of the Eng- 
lish Board of Trade and with the conditions of shipbuilding in Great Britain, 
writes as follows to a friend in New York : 

'Our shipping business seems to be undergoing a complete revolution. Sailing vessels 
except of a large size, are not being built, and an amount of capital is being put into steamers 
which, to say the least, is startling. By opening the door to our ships you would be reviving your 
own building trade, owing to the increased price which would be asked here in response to your 
orders.' " 

Could anything be more wily than this; and yet it is the 
whole argument, and published in credulous verdancy or worse. 

Suppose we open the doors to American ships and try them 
a while. 

And here is another specimen of the sweetmeat sophistry 
that is given to our credulous rulers and interested people in 
frequent doses, but, like Christmas stockings, full of indigestible 
materials. A London Journal recently tried to soothe our 
anxiety for our dying shipping interests as follows ; 



96 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

" The Americans seem unable to let well-enough alone ! Brit- 
ish ships have carried their mails and their products practically 
without competition for a score of years, and during no other 
period of their history have the American people prospered as 
they have since their Merchant Marine disappeared from the 
ocean. [Bj^ destroying our Industry !] This is because the 
laws of nature have been obeyed ! The Americans have conform^ed 
their policy to the great economic fact that England is the natural 
common carrier of the world, and they have not wasted their energy 
or their substance in vain efforts to compete with her at constant 
loss. The great truths of Free Trade underlie the relations 
between British carriers and American producers, and the results 
are seen in mutual prosperity, each nation realizing the utmost 
benefit in its own sphere, and neither trespassing upon the natu- 
ral domain of the other." 

This is indeed cool, assuring philosophy for those who do not 
see or know its meaning, and who are charmed by the smooth 
sayings and soft voice of the enticing siren, the result of which 
is seen and sadly felt by our farmer, mechanic, and tradesman. 

Can it be that the editor of that journal is so weak, or that he 
believes that Americans are so weak, as to accept such fulsome 
flattery ? As his picture is, however, the true state of our bar- 
renness, the true case of our dependence, the true condition of 
our subserviency, he has a good reason for his conclusions. 

Let Americans read the letter of ex-Minister Bancroft (under 
Booty, following pages,) the Messages of Washington, of Polk, 
and others submitted herewith for a clear expose of the farce 
and deceit — the causes of the decline of American shipping. ^ 

To analyze, then, this greatest of Industrial questions in 
order, let us first review the '' Primer Questions," not pre- 
pared by, but sent out for the Committee; and then consider 
each condition of our Shipping separately. 

^ The New York Nautical Gazette recently very concisely expressed the story 
viz. : 

" If the FOREIGN STEAMSHIP AGENTS Can prevent the passage of the Shipping Bill through the 
Senate, they will undoubtedly do so." 

TheT/ did so! as usual. This is wonderful, but shameful!}^ too true. This 
agency (a? represented in following pages) is the insidious flatterer, who, with 
theoretical palaver — unless stronger and less pure argument is needed — has for 
twenty-five years been encircling its influence in our private and public halls, 
like a serpentineous charmer, for the destruction of American Shipping. 

The douceur ' ' is mightier than the sword I ' ' 



COLUMBIA LOOKS IN VAIN 



FOR 



Our Merchant Marine 




Tho' Lost to Sight, to Memory Dear! 



Columbia — 

"For of all sad words of tongue or pen, 
The saddest are these — it might have been!"- 

FoREiGX Lobbyist — 

Come sit thee down upon this sandy slide, 
While I to thee in golden notes confide ; 
This trade for years successfully I've plied, 
Harping the bonny air, " The Ships o' Ctyde." 



7 H 



(P7) 



FRESTIOE 



American Shipbuilding, 



THAT FOREIGN AGENTS ENDEAVOR TO HIDE OR DEFAME. 



1784. Eumsey, in the presence of Washington, creates the first 

successful steamboat — in the world. 
1807. Fulton inaugurates the first regular steam traffic, ditto. 
1807. Stevens inaugurates the first coastwise steam traffic, ditto. 
1812. Baltimoreans create the greatest ships, the Clippers, ditto. 
1819. The " Savannah " inaugurates ocean steam shipping, ditto. 
1830. Henry Ecktord, of Xew York, and a large number of 

American shipowners invited to Turkey to build ships. 
1830. Harlan & Hollingsworth build the first iron ship in America. 
1845. David Brown, of New York, presented by the Czar of 

Russia with a diamond ring for the best models of ships, 

1850. The Collins line established, with finest steamships in the 

world. 

1851. The Steers Brothers especially honored by the Queen of 

England with a silver cup, for winning the yacht race 
with " America," in fairness and honor to the victors 
and rebuke to the unfairness and shame that denied the 
so-called " prize " of the London Royal Yacht Club. 

1852. Westervelt, the great shipbuilder, made Mayor of New York. 

1856. George Steers builds the largest, finest, and fastest steam- 

ship afloat — the "Adriatic." 

1857. W. H. Webb is presented by the Czar of Russia with a 

gold snuft-box set in diamonds for building the mag- 
nificent steam frigate " General Admiral." 

1861. Wm. Cramp builds the greatest ironclad of the world — 
the " Ironsides." 

1861. W. H. Webb receives contract from Italy to build two 
ironclad steam frigates. 

1865. W. H. Webb sells to the French Government his great 
war ram, " Dunderberg." 

1872. John Roach builds the great iron steamships "Peking" 
and " Tokio," and establishes an iron ship yard, unex- 
celled in the world. 

(98) 



def^m:a_tory 

QUESTIONS OF THE SHIPPING COMMITTEE. 



Question 1st.—" Why cannot this country build iron, steel, or 
wooden vessels as well and cheaply as they can build in 
Scotland, England, or other countries ? " 

X^eply. — As this question reverses the order of progress, it is 
necessary to reverse an answer and take the last class first. 

The record of American wooden ships is so renowned as to 
cheapness, model, completeness, and speed that it was not sup- 
posed any one under the rays of the sun's light and within the 
pale of civilzation would seriously have asked such a question ; 
hence the country naturally asks — 

Who prepared these double-meaning " Questions ? " 

We have read in magazines of late, and in pages of advertised 
theory, from some one of the semi-dead literati of college facul- 
ties, and from the subsidized manufacturers of public opinion in 
daily journals, articles arguing that Americans cannot build ships ! 

But what would have been the feelings of our Pilgrim Fathers, 
our Revolutionary fathers, our shipbuilding fathers, whose 
courage, fortitude, skill, independence, patriotism, and toil 
recorded the grand pages of American history and the Prestige 
(shown in foregoing pages) of American Shipping, could they 
liave foreseen or dreamed that an American Congressional 
Shipping Committee would have ever seen fit to brand the 
American people so officially and conspicuously with such a 
record ? Americans build the best iron and steel ships to-day — 
in the world ! 

The foregoing argument presents a record unequalled even by 
Great Britain ; and the foregoing page epitomizes a prestige of 
which no other nation in the world can boast. 

It is not asked, " What have been the causes of our decline ? " 
but an injurious, incorrect, and double purpose is intended. 

That this " Question " is but an insidious insinuation and in- 
tended imputation upon our American Industry will be shown 

(99) 



100 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

in the following analysis of the Shipping Conditions, pages 115, 
et seq. : 

Question 2d. — ^' If we had such vessels without cost to us, could 
the}^ be run by us in competition with those of other 
countries, who build their own vessels and run them with 
their own officers and crews, without a modification or 
repeal of existing laws ? " 

Reply. — Here is a reasonable and pointed inquiry turned 
adroitly and prejudged with a decision that " modification or re- 
peal of existing laws " must and shall be lugged in as a necessity, 
or no reply will be received. 

This is what lawyers term " leading," or dictating answers. 
A leviathan cannot subsist without food, nor can a ship. It is 
food that is as necessary on the high seas as well as on land. 

The modification or repeal of all of our existing laws could 
not "^^ modify or repeal " subsidy competition, or supply freight 
to our ships at paj'ing or subsisting rates. For proper evidence 
and consideration of this point — without the restriction of above 
question — see headmg '' Free Ships," pages following. 

Question 3d. — '^ What modifications of existing laws or what 
new laws are required to remove discriminations against 
and burdens upon our shipping and shipowning interests, 
such as customs dues, port dues, customs charges, pilotage, 
and other dues, &c. ? " 
Reply. — Could there possibly be more arbitary dictation ex- 
pressed than in this so-called " Question ? " As the premises 
asserted have not been proven, such conclusions cannot be dic- 
tated. (See the several headings under "Burden," pages fol- 
lowing.) 

Question 4th. — " Compare the laws of other countries with our 
own, with a view to their efi'ect upon our and their ship- 
ping and shipowning interests." 
Reply. — This is the first Question of the series that indicates a 
thorough and wise investigation into the subject, and a compari- 
son of such laws will be found in argument under heading 
" Foreign Policies," following. 

The testimony presented under that heading shows that Ger- 
many is aroused to fostering her Merchant Marine ; that France, 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 101 

although disappointed in the first year's results of her new 
marine law, through the speculation attending same at the start, is 
now reported b}' all our Consuls as wonderfully improving; Italj^ 
is likewise enjoying a Shipping revival; Austria, Russia, &c., 
are in the van, yet the American ship is betrayed — at home — and 
made a Galley Slave. 

Question 5th. — " Should our Navigation Laws be repealed or 
modified ; and, if modified, wherein and for what pur- 
pose ?" 

.Reply. — It is not likely that any one will own the authorship 
of this remarkable declaratory, rather than categorical query, to 
say nothing of the " whereins " and " wherefores " of what has 
yet to be proven. 

It needs no comment ! See heading '* ^N'avigation Laws," fol- 
lowing. 

Question 6th. — " What is the cost of the component materials of 

iron, steel, or wooden vessels in other countries and our 

own ? " 

Reply. — Here is the second quer}^ that demands consideration, 

and which will be found fully presented under '' Shipbuilding." 

See pages following. 

Question 7th. — " What would be the effect of a rebate on an}^ or 
all such material ? " 

Reply. — The fraraer of this Question was more mindful of his 
special object in view than of the United States Statutes, or else 
overlooking the fact that sections 2513 and 2514 provide, and 
for years have provided, such rebate, and which sections are 
still the law. See under " Customs Tariff," following argu- 
ment. 

Question 8th. — " Present any other Statements connected with 
the causes of the decline of the American foreign carry- 
ing trade, and what remedies can be applied by legisla- 
tion." 
Reply. — Under this privilege the foregoing and the follow- 
ing Statements are herewith respectfully submitted upon our 
Shipping Conditions, and consideration thereof respectfully 
asked : 



ANALYSIS 



OF 



OUR SHIPPING CONDITIONS 



We have seen by the foregoing, and the " repeated record of 
historj^," that there has been no period of our country not 
marked with incidents remarkably indicating our dependence 
upon the home development of this Industry; so forcibly ex- 
pressed in words submitted to Congress by President Washing- 
ton, and as early as 1631 by Governor Winthrop. 

There is no question in our political economy or commercial 
necessity paramount to this. 

There is no economic or Industry that has received more pa- 
thetic consideration — in vain. 

There is no arm of national honor and defefense, or of trading 
influence and prosperity, that has been so continually, systematic- 
ally, and shamefully neglected. 

Nor has any economic question ever been more contradictorily 
discussed. 

It is, therefore, useless to present to a High Commission, or 
to Congress, evidence that is incomplete or unessential in so im- 
portant a matter, as all of the innumerable papers of history are 
at hand for convenient reference and verification. 

It is, therefore, my purpose and endeavor to present, as thor- 
oughly as possible, the salient features of our Shipping Condi- 
tions, under the peculiar divisions that characterize these inter- 
ests of our country and trade, viz. : 

1st, Burden. 
2d. Bounty. 
3d. Booty. 

(102) 



Among the Breakers 1 1 




Senators and Members, how have you taxed our people and 

our Industries by 

"F-ALSE ECO]NrO]VrY" 

towards American Shipping, while listening to the interests 





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(103) 



SHIP-BUILDING AND SHIP-WRECKma. 



SHIP BUILDING. 

The prestige of American shipping is world renowned, and the 
theme of even foreign historians, as well as the pride of Ameri- 
can-tradesmen and statesmen. Grantham and Yeats both wrote : 

"America has been a formidable rival to England, and may become so again." American 
statesmen, shall she not ? 

"Previous to the development of steam [and iron] ships the preponderance of shipping was 
falling rapidly into the hands of American ship-owners." 

Here are the official figures of our Register : 

Sail. Steam. Total. 

Year. No. Tons. No. Tons. No. Tons. 

1798. ___ 635 49,435 __ __ 635 ' 49,435 

1815 1324 154,624 5 954 1329 155,57& 

1855 1781 510,689 246 72,760 2027 583,450 

1883 869 160,4:37 503 131,843 1371 383,369 

The highest point in American ship-building was reached in 

186S! 

In 1856 the highest point in ownership was reached— 5,681,394. 

In 1855 and 1856 the highest proportion of our commerce carried in American ships was 
reached, viz: 75 per cent. 

Here ended American Shipping Fame ! 

SHIP-WRECKING. 

The decline of our Shipping is marked from 1855. 

The contracts created through the far-sighted wisdom of states- 
men under the Polk Administration were made in solemn com- 
pact between nation and ship-builders, to expire as follows : 

New York and Liverpool (Collins) Line 27th April, 1860. 

New York and Bremen Line 1st June, 1858. 

New York and Havre Line 1st June, 1858. 

New York, New Orleans, and Aspinwall Line 1st Oct., 1859.. 

Astoria and Panama Line 1st Oct., 1858. 

Charleston and Havana Line 30th June, 1859. 

New Orleans and Vera Cruz Line. . 30th June, 1858. 

From 1851 to 1855 Congress trifled yearly, trying to destroy these National obligations. 
Foreign interests succeeded first in influencing the redaction of the amount, and finally the 
dishonorable abrogation of these pledges before their expiration. 

The Adriatic was left high and dry on the stocks. 

From 1865 to 1875 Congress again authorized solemn contracts to be made in behalf of our 
Shipping, but again was influenced by misrepresentations of foreign emissaries to abrogate the 

The Pacific Mail iron steamships ivere left high and dry. 

The Supreme Court in February, 1881, and Court of Claims last month, rendered decisions 
proving the illegality of this action. 

HERE IS THE SECRET OF OUR SHIPPING DECLINE. 
CONGEESS HAS WRECKED OUR SHIPS!!! 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 105 

BURDEN. 

In looking upon the first division of our Shipping Conditions, 
we may point to the following requirements from our ships, made 
b}^ the Revised Statutes of our country, and by the several States 
separately, as the principal burdens that have been borne with 
patriotic heroism and long patience — exercised and conspicu- 
ously illustrated — b}^ the small remnant of noble sea traders, 
that bear likewise proudly, but less conspicuously, the American 
emblem of honor, nationality, and protection over our Industries 
on the high seas and into foreign ports, deserve reward, but alas ! 
which return home, not to a " haven of rest," but to one of taxa- 
tion, rather. 

The " privileges" for carrying the American Flag on the Seas. 

Actual} 

Pilotage Fees. Seamen's Fees. 

Towing " Marine Hospital " 

Port Warden " Admeasurement " 

Harbor Master " Postal Restriction " 

Wharfage " Local 

Custom House " Consular " 

Tonnage " Shipping Com. '' 

Insurance Combination. 

Nominal. 

Light-House Fees. 
Customs Tariff Restrictions. 
Navigation Law Restrictions. 
Cost of Shipbuilding. 

These actual and nominal burdens are set forth continually, 
by argument, by many, as the serious obstacles to shipping re- 
vival. 

^ Each of these burdens are hereinafter (in order as above) considered impar- 
tially and fully, and the many such chtirges, especially under Consular Fees, will 
be seen. While conciseness is the aim of the writer in this argument, it is not- 
withstanding essential to detail many important data for historical record ; there- 
fore continual reference will be made to an Addenda, which will be added as 
corroborative evidence, and for a more thorough consideration of our Shipping 
Conditions in one work. 



106 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

That these enumerated actual burdens do, severely, handicap 
American shipping, is unquestionable ; but there is a far greater 
burden — misrepresentation by foreign shipping agents and lob- 
byists. 



PILOTAGE FEES. 

R. S., sec. 4235, provides that Pilots shall be regulated in con- 
formity with the existing laws of the States, respectively, wherein 
such Pilots may be, &c. Approved August 7, 1789. 

Sec. 4237 provides that no discrimination in rates of pilotage 
or half-pilotage between ports, vessels, steam or part steam, or 
National vessels, shall be made, and that any " such discrimina- 
tion shall be legally annulled." Approved July 18, 1866. 

Much abuse has been heaped upon the poor tempest-tossed 
Pilot, who is the first to greet us with a welcome home, yet 
blamed for the nonentity of the American ship, for the purpose 
of hiding the short-comings of Congressional Committees — or 
Congress in a body — by those who prefer misrepresentation to 
prevail, and by those who honestly believe that crumbs could 
feed a Leviathan. 

Whether an actual or nominal impediment, in a spirit of 
unbiassed and thorough investigation, let this Committee take 
time to consider every point, every view, and every opinion, that 
the truth may hereafter shine in contrast to sophistry. 

The following are the rates and conditions of Pilotage in our 
waters. In New York City the Pilots themselves came forward 
in September last, in response to a demand for 33J per cent, re- 
duction, and offered to reduce their earnings 15 per cent, of the 
rates now received, as a contribution to the revival of American 
Shipping, and as a quietus to the misrepresentations of British 
ship-building and ship-owning agents. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPINa. 

Rates and Conditions of Pilotage. 



107 



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* Average rate. 
(1) Compulsory. (2) From November 1 to April 1, $3.73 outward and $6.78 inward. (3) Ves- 
sels under 200 tons, one-half rates. (4) Proportionate increase per foot draft. (5) From bar to 
■city, 840 extra. (6) One-half rate compulsory. (7) Compulsory if in foreign trade. (8) Compul- 
sorj' if spoken. (9) From November 1 to April 1, $10 extra. (10) Vessels in coasting trade ex- 
•empt. 

It will be seen from this table that the rate of Pilotage is 
raised verj- properly according to the conditions of the bar and 
harbor of the port. Don't blame the Pilot ; he shows no prefer- 
-ence to foreign ships, as Congress has done. 

When our Revised Statutes are made more complete upon 
Shipping provisions, and a Board of Admiralty is established, our 
shippers and pilots can enjoy mutual protection from practical 
laws and justice. 



TOWING FKES. 

The Revised Statutes make no provision on this point. The 
ship is left to the chance of competition, the magnanimity, and 
in times of peril to the mercj^ humanity, or soulless extortion of 
the "tower," and to the rapacious greed of salvage. 

That much imposition is imposed very frequently upon our 



ship-owners by the patronizing 



" tugs 



and other ships for 



108 niSTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

towage, under certain circumstances, is unquestionably the case 
and unreasonable, but to say that this sharp practice is more 
peculiar to shipping, than other tricks of trade generally, is 
absurd. 

Still it is just as plausible an excuse for the discouragement of 
the shipowners as the absurd pretense that a few extra dollars in 
buying an American-built ship is the cause of its owner's starva- 
tion for many years afterward. 

The towage rates of other countries are herein given^ to illus- 
trate these conditions, comparatively, and to show the fraud 
intended by those crying "Burden, Burden," to hide greater 
necessities in behalf of our shipping. 



PORT WARDEN FEES. 
See " E. S.. sec. 2891, March 2d, 1799." 

This official, who is privileged to tax the ship-owners for his 
services in supervising cargoes, repairs, seaworthiness, etc., of 
vessels, is also presented as a bete noir to the shipping in our ports 
by his human spirit of partiality and prejudice. 

But such services are necessary, if efficient, and not peculiar 
to American vigilance, nor omitted in foreign ports. 

There has never been heard a wail from the British shipowners 
or public press upon such imposition, because of proper appoint- 
ment. 

The fees of the Port Wardens are handsome, or, at least, 
not mean, and a man of ability in nautical talent is required for 
such a post, and he aids by his service — rather than " destroys " — 
our national carrying trade. The great need in this respect is 
the appointment of a Warden acceptable to the Chambers of 
Commerce and Boards of Trade. The burden is in poor ap- 
pointees — not in the fee of $100 to $200 for surveying a vessel. 

In consideration of these burdens of the American ship, it i& 
as farcical to attribute its decline to an honest and able Port 
Warden as it is to cry that foreign genius and labor can produce 
an ocean carrier — as your committee's " dictated " questions 
dictate — that could bring profit to its owner without the assistance 
of national bounty, in the face of heavy subsidy competition. 

1 See under "Foreicrn Policies." 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 109 

HARBORMASTER FEES. 

Another bugbear! it is asserted, to American shipowning; 
another burden to an AmericSin-bidU ship; another so-called 
*' cause" for the decline of Our Merchant Marine. 

And the poor Harbormaster must be cut down in his fees, 
likewise, if we per&ist in continuing our Navigation Laws and 
in paying home labor in building ships! 

That the Harbormaster possesses almost illimitable privileges 
with our Shipping, is undeniable, but it has never been shown 
that he exercised the barnacle impediment to the prosperity of 
shipping that Congressional investigations, for twenty years, have 
vainly endeavored — through some influence — to prove. 

Let us look at his "terribly high" fees that burden our 
shipping and blind the eyes of our Congressman to the winks 
or deaden their ears to the soft words of the soothsayers of 
Foreign Shipping Agents — in American character. 

The income of this officer from custom fees in the portof I^ew 
York amounts to about §3,500 or §4,000, or from §40 to §50 for 
ships of 2500 to 3000 tons. 

This fee not compulsory in New York ; in other ports it varies 
in every way, viz: 4 cents per running foot; 3 cents per ton: 
§3 per day; §3 on entry, and from §5 to §100 per ship while in 
berth. This office should be a salaried one. 

For this and the service of Warden it is necessary to make 
early reconstructive provision by the creation of a Department of 
Commerce, Board of Admiralty, or some nautical authority. 



WHARFAGE FEES. 

Even the office of Wharfinger is cited continually as an abuse 
and outrage against the ship-owners of our country, and a cause 
for the starvation thereof; and everj' effort possible has been 
made for the last twenty years to persuade our representatives in 
Congress that if this necessary functionary were starved, in the 
administration of his duty, that " there would be no need of 
national bounty being paid" to aid the subsistence of the ship, as 
practiced in other countries ; and raan}^ have believed, and made 
the halls of the Capitol of the nation ring with eloquence in 
-denunciation of " taxing their people " for maritime traffic 



110 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

" while the wharfage fees of our ports add such vastness of profit " 
to the investment of those who have improved the facilities of 
bulkhead property. Is such an assertion reasonable ? If the 
wharfage fee is a burden, is it not necessary and just, and is it 
not ridiculous in some journals and in some statesmen to claim 
that it is merely these petty " burdens *' that weigh down our 
national honor ? 

And yet your Committee is asked to repeal this foll}^ that fills 
many pages of Congressional Record, for which unnecessary ex- 
pense you have taxed the people to a degree far greater in the 
long run than if an adequate bounty had been appropriated for 
our national honor and for the protection of our commerce on 
the high seas. Compel all great ports to build piers of stone, 
and keep the "slips" dredged. 

(The following are the latest official rates, from the Secretary of the 

Treasury.) 

Maine, Bangor : Vessels from 100 to 300 tons, $3 to $4 per vessel 
while loading. Vessels over 300 tons pay from $1 to $3 
per day. 

Bath : From 50 cents to |1 per day, according to size of vessel. 

Portland : Twenty-five cents per 100 tons register per day. No 
charge if vessel be loading or unloading. 

New Hampshire, Portsmouth: Vessels under 50 tons, 20 cents per 
day ; between 50 and 100 tons, 30 cents per day ; between 
100 tons and 150 tons, 40 cents per day ; between 150 and 
200 tons, 50 cents per day ; and 10 cents additional for every 
50 tons above 200 tons. 

Massachusetts, Boston : Vessels under 200 tons, three-fourths of 
a cent per ton per day ; vessels over 200 tons, one-half cent 
per ton per day. Vessels loading or unloading allowed 
from five to forty-five days free of charge. 

New Bedford : Three cents per 10 tons per day ; half rates be- 
tween December 1 and April 1 if vessels is idle. 

Nantucket : Three mills per ton per day. 

Newburyport: Vessels under 50 tons, 50 cents per day; vessels 
from 50 to 100 tons, $1 per day ; from 100 to 150 tons, 
$1.25 per day ; from 150 to 200 tons, $1.25 per day; from 
200 to 250 tons, $1.75 per day ; from. 250 to 300 tons, $2 
per day. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. Ill 

Plymouth: Twenty-five cents per day in summer, and half rates 
in winter. If loading or discharging cargo, no charge is 
made. 

Salem : Vessels under 50 tons, 20 cents per day; from 50 to 150 
tons, 30 cents per day ; from 150 to 300 tons, 40 cents per 
day ; from 300 to 450 tons, 50 cents per day ; upwards of 
450 tons, 60 cents per day. 

Rhode Island, Providence : Vessels under 50 tons, 25 cents per 
day ; over 50 tons, one-half cent per ton per day. 

Connecticut, New Haven: One and one-eighth cents per ton on 
registered tonnage. 

New London : Fifty cents per day. 

Stonington : Vessels of 50 tons and under, 25 cents per day ; over 
50 tons, one-half cent per ton per day. 

!N"ew York, New York : Two cents per ton for the first 200 tons, 
and one-half cent per ton on each ton over 200 tons, per 
day. 

Pennsylvania, Philadelphia : Sailing vessels, $4 to $6 per day ; 
steamers, §15 per day. 

Delaware, Wilmington : Vessels 60 tons and less, $1.50 per day ; 
over 60 tons, §2.35 per day. 

Maryland, Annapolis : One and one-fourth cents per ton per day. 
Vessels of 5 tons, 10 cents per day ; of 20 tons, 2 cents 
per ton per day ; 40 tons, IJ cents per ton per day ; 50 tons 
and over, 1\ cents per ton per day. 

Baltimore : State charges are 1 cent per ton per day ; private 
rates are $1 per day on vessels under 200 tons, and rang- 
ing up to §3.50 per day on vessels of 1,500 tons and over 
200 tons. 

District of Columbia, Georgetown : From §1 to §5 per day, ac- 
cording to size of vessel. 

Virginia, iVor/o^A' .• Steamers, 1 cent per ton per day : sailing 
vessels, 1 cent per ton per day for first 300 tons, and one- 
half cent per ton on each additional ton. 

^N'orth Carolina, Wilmington : Vessels under 100 tons, §2 per 
day ; from 100 to 200 tons, §3 per day; over 200 tons, §5 
per day. Vessels occupying second, third, and fourth tiers 
pay half rates. 

South Carolina Beaufort : Vessels under 100 tons, 75 cents per 
day; over 100 and under 150 tons pay §1.25 per day; over 
5 H 



112 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

150 tons pay $1.50 per day. Vessels lying idle pay double 
rates per day. Line vessels and coastwise are exempt from 
foregoing rates. 

Charleston : Coastwise vessels free. Vessels engaged in the 
foreign trade, if under 100 tons, $1 per day ; under 300 
and over 100 tons, §2 per day ; under §600 and over 300 
tons, §2.50 per day ; under 1,000 and over 600 tons, §3 
per daj^; over 1,000 tons, §4 per day. 

Georgia, Savannah : Vessels under 100 tons, employed, 50 cents 
per day ; under 100 tons, not employed, §1 per day ; over 
100 tons, employed, 75 cents per day ; over 100 tons, not 
employed, §1.50 per day. 

Florida, Ke}/ West : One cent per ton per day. 

Louisiana, New Orleans: All vessels arriving from sea of 1,000 
tons and under, 20 cents per ton ; excess over 1,000 tons, 
15 cents per ton. All steamboats pay, not over -Q.ve days 
at wharf, 10 cents per ton each day; after five days, §5 per 
day. 

Texas, Galveston : Vessels of 50 tons and over not receiving or 
discharging cargo, 5 cents per ton; vessels under 50 tons, 
$2 per day. Loading or unloading cargo, pay nothing. 

California, San Francisco : Vessels under 50 tons, 50 cents per 
day ; over 50 and under 500 tons, average of §4 per day ; 
over 500 tons and under 1,000 tons, average §10 per day ; 
over 1,000 and under 2,000 tons, average §17.50 per day ; 
over 2,000 tons and under 2,500 tons, §24.25 per day; over 
2,500 tons, 50 cents for each additional 100 tons. 

San Diego : From §2 to §5 per day. 

Oregon, Astoria : Vessels of 800 tons and over, §5 per day. If 
loading or discharging cargo, no charges. 



CUSTOM-HOUSE FEES. 
R. S., Sees. 2654, 4197, 4381. 



The next burden cited, in order, is one fixed by our ISTational 
Government, viz : a requirement of every sailing master to report 
to the port collector on arrival, and pay §5.50 on the bulk of 
their cargo that is dutiable and §3.17 on free imports. Should 
extra or special permits be desired, an extra fee of 20 cents for 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 113 

each permit is required, and where many extra permits are neces- 
sary the fees are required likewise. 

The fees for coasting ships are as follows : 

Entrance : 

ArnericaUj under Register $1 00 

" License 50 

Foreign 2 00 

Clearance : 

American, under Register 1 50 

" License 50 

Foreign 2 00 

Thus it will be seen that these small /ee5, although frequently 
annoying in loss of time, &c., are objectionable as burdens to a 
very small degree, and that this burden is only an insignificant 
pretext of foreign agents to disguise other causes for the decline 
of American Shipping. 



TONNAGE FEES. 
E. S., Sec. 4219-4223. 

Here we come to the greatest of the multiplicity of these cited 
^' great burdens " that have weighed down the American ship, 
the American flag, and America^i prestige, on the waters of the 
world. 

The rate of this fee or " burden " is thirty cents per ton, and 
yields at present, in total volume of taxation, an average annual 
revenue to our ISTational Treasury of $1,500,000, of which amount 
85 per cent, is paid by foreign ships, and — in consequence of 
there being but " half a dozen " only — fifteen per cent. — or 
$240,000, is paid by American ships ; hence, naturally, this bur- 
den' is, at present at least, a weight upon foreign ships, and, 
while this condition exists, a very proper source of J^ational in- 
come. 

The following are the amounts of Tonnage Dues collected within 
the last five years : 

1878 $1,336,627 68 

1879 1,462,267 97 

1880 1,610,383 84 

1881 1,588,828 87 

1882 1,346,045 74 

Total in five years $7,344,149 10 

o H 



114 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



The nationality of the shipping paying this tax or " burden" 
will be seen from the following official figures kindly furnished, 
b}' the Commissioner of Customs : 

1882. 



♦ 


Sailing-vessels. 


Steam-vessels. i Total. 


Nationality. 


S 
B 


Tonnage 
duty. 


s 

3 


Tonnage 
duty. 


1 
B 

3 


Tonnage 
duty. 


American 


1,904 

2,461 

701 

339 

261 

152 

102 

147 

65 

53 

39 

33 

20 

12 

1 

2 

2 

■ 9 

2 


§242,929 56 

391,518 00 

83,382 60 

67,245 90 

28,535 10 

27,277 80 

15,039 60 

15,865 67 

11,182 50 

8,850 30 

5,407 80 

3,752 40 

2,047 50 

969 30 

546 30 

274 20 

291 60 

529 60 

195 00 

90 60 

622 80 

567 30 

1,947 90 

195 00 

463 80 

53 40 

63 00 


162 
643 


S36,222 20 
298,314 01 


2,066 

3,104 

701 

386 

268 

153 

102 

174 

65 

75 

51 

39 

20 

12 

19 

2 

2 

14 

3 

1 

4 

4 

7 

3 

1 

1 

1 


§279,151 76 
689,832 01 
83,382 60 
106,476 90 
32,655 90 
27,869 70 
15,039 60 
.30,818 77 
11,182 50 
26,381 10 
12,508 50 


British 






47 

7 
1 


39,231 00 

4,120 80 

591 90 


Italian 




Swedi'^h 


Spanish 


27 


14,953 10 


Russian 


French 


22 

12 
6 


17,530 80 
7,100 70 
3,258 60 


Dutch 


Danish. 


7,011 00 
2,047 50 


Portuguese 










18 


14,409 30 


14,955 60 
274 20 










291 60 


Mexican 


5 

1 


396 60 
72 30 


996 10 




267 3a 


Honduran 


90 60 








622 80 


Grecian 






567 30 


Chilian 






1,947 9a 
195 00 


Brazilian 






Liberian 






463 80 


U. S. Columbia 






53 40 


San Domingan 






63 00 










Total.. 


6,327 


$909,844 43 


951 


S436,201 31 


7,278 


Sl,346,045 74 





Penal tonnage tax, under Sec. 4371, R. S., S857.98. 

Hence this burden falls upon foreign ships until we have ships 
of our own. Don't abolish this law, but make it a bounty to 
American mail carriers. 

Is it worth while for Congress to consume time and " tax the 
people " for expenses of a fruitless investigation that merely 
orders the reduction in house rent when the patient is dying from 
want of food ? 

Pay American ships for carrjang our mails as our railroads are 
paid and reduce this burden also. 

That this law should be greatly modified, and the rate of tax 
greatly reduced — when we have obtained the privilege from Con- 
gress to have, and the National aid to sustain, the life of an Amer- 
ican ship — is too apparent to be questioned, although the chair- 
man of a previous Shipping Committee of the Senate, Mr. Kernan, 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



115 



(January, 1881,) knew nothing about the work which his commit- 
tee had under consideration, yet listened to and accepted at that 
very investigation the whispered dictation of the lobbyists of 
foreign ship-builders. 

This and similar reasons are the causes of the decline of Ameri- 
can Shipping. • 

seamen's advance fees. 

K. S., Sec. 4582. 

The existence of a law severely taxing the American ship- 
owners for a hypothetical American seaman is an anomaly with- 
out parallel. It is not likely that each member of your 
Committee is aware that the law requiring the pa^^ment of 
advance wages or fees under the protective measure granting 
three months' extra wages, intended to enable the American 
seamen to return to his country — supposing it to be America — 
now operates only to encourage the well-posted and cunning 
foreign sailor, enlisting under some chance lone vessel bearing 
the Stars and Stripes, to drop off, on some pretense, in a 
port near his native home, or perchance at home, with his 
pockets full of unearned money, exacted from the Ameri- 
can ship-owner by the Statutes of the United States, that 
not one of the many '' investigating " committees of Congress 
have investigated, preferring, as the Congressional Eecord and 
Globe will show, to become confused in the dilemma, or to 
become disciples of the tlieory of foreign lobbyists to buy their 
ships, to the detriment of American labor and American enter- 
prise.^ 

But there are always two sides to a question. Let us look on 
the other side, to see if it is really such a " burden " to the exist- 
ence of the American ships, or an incentive for our buying for- 
eign ships. United States Consul Studer of Singapore reports, 
that— 

"The numerous complaints about the three months' extra 
wages law are made to appear in a darker light than they de- 
serve. Good, law-abiding, honest, and humane ship-masters do 
not often have to pay extra wages, and are not subjected to 
heavier expenses during a round voyage than the masters of 

^ See also under Consular Fees. 



116 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

foreign vessels, or very little more. And ten years' experience at 
this port convinces me that such masters are on the increase. 
We have plenty of ship-masters who are excellent and able men, 
and they command respect wherever they go. 

" The three months' extra wages law has a very salutary effect, 
and is distinctly a promoter of humanity. There are occasion- 
ally masters, an4 oftener mates — first, second and third — and 
boatswains, who somehow cannot feel statisfied without "pound- 
ing," " kicking," " cursing" (with the foulest and filthiest epi- 
thets), and otherwise " maltreating sailors." On entering upon 
the voyage, they " feel their w^ay " to find out those who will 
retaliate and those who are not able or afraid to do so. This 
latter class of unfortunates are generally men who do not under- 
stand English readily, or not of very bright intellect, or of small 
stature, and weakly. A poor fellow is singled out, and gcnerall}^ 
the mate in whose watch he is, and sometimes both mates and 
the skipper thrown in, " lazar him " and ill-treat him in all 
sorts of ways during the voyage, or, not unfrequently, from one 
end of the voyage to the other. 

" This is no fiction, but naked, clean truth, based upon past 
experience. 

" Some mates and boatswains are great bullies and brutes, and 
sometimes, even when known to be such, are shipped on pur- 
pose. It is true that the officers of a ship should be men of 
firmness and vigor, but they should also possess self-control, and, 
above all, feelings of humanity and justice." 

The accounts of the Fifth Auditor show the following ex- 
penditure of the receipts of these seamen's fees that are said to 
burden our ship owners each year : 

1882. 

Board and lodging $11,655 56 

Clothing 1 6,253 88 

Passage paid by consuls 4,416 96 

Passage to the United States paid at Treasury 8,799 00 

Other expenses 8,859 80 

$39,985 20 

Extra wages and arrears 51,530 53 

Amounts refunded 18,149 31 

33,381 22 

Excess of relief over extra wages and arrears $6,603 98 

The Auditor reports thirteen hundred and eighty seamen re- 
lieved during last year. 

Now, the question naturally occurs, if " we have no seamen " 
how is it we are supporting some parties so-called American 
seamen ? 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 117 

The following are the amounts collected for the last seventeen 
years : 

1866 $183,909 79 1875 |54,287 13 

1867 151,282 81 1876 73,616 95 

1868 107,536 36 1877 72,449 12 

1869 79,714 89 1878 70,947 02 

1870 90,078 61 1879 __- 68,250 01 

1871 71,064 01 1880 J 56,831 52 

1872 232,972 86 1881 42,510 67 

1873 72,284 42 1882 39,985 20 

1874 64,640 72 

Thus we see some substantial support to our mythical seamen, 
but as with our shipping, it is a tribute of charity to other nations. ^ 



MARINE HOSPITAL FEES. 
K. S., Sec. 4585. 

On the entry of vessels into our ports there is also required a 
fee of forty cents per month per man from each ship, which 
contributes to the Support of the Marine Hospitals of the United 
States. 

The total receipts to our Government on account of Marine 
Hospital fees are $404,103.59. (Official figures of Coaimissioner 
of Customs.) 

A more deserving charity could not exist, and should be gener- 
ously supported ; but if such a requirement, by law, applied to 
each Industry separately, to the tradesman and to the farmer, 
additional to his voluntary offering to charity, what would be 
the complaints made, and is there one of your honorable body 
that would listen, in that event, to a whisper that the American 
farmer could only lind relief in buying and cultivating a farm in 
England ? 

Yet there is just as sensible an application for the farmer to 
buy a British farm as for a ship-owner to buy a British ship ; in 
either case starvation would soon result. 

Under this heading may also be noted " Quarantine Fees," 
although separate and distinct and understate authorities. (See 
R. S., sees. 4792, 4793.) 

The total return of this taxation upon our shipping in the port 
of IS'ew York amounts to about $70,000, which is an income to 
the Health Officer. 



118 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

ADMEASUREMENT.! 

The apportionino^ of the space of a ship to determine its ca- 
pacity and to reguUite its carrying power and safety in stowage, 
is made under different systems in some countries, although of 
recent years there has been a tendency to uniformit}-. In the 
charge of " Tonnage Fees," this feature in shipping materially 
adds to or reduces the amount required in taxation against the 
owner. The several systems of each country is given on pages 
following, as it would be tedious here to detail at length. 

The British (new) system of measurement is now very gen- 
erally adopted, and is noted for the principle — 

" That internal measurement should be the Admeasurement 
of Tonnage, and requires more detailed measurement than for- 
merly." 

The following disadvantages were suffered by the American 
ship until August last, viz. : 

While loading at her wharf, 33J per cent, more wharfage. 
When in drj^ dock for repairs, 33J per cent, more for dockage. 

When going through the Suez Canal, 33 J per cent, more for 
tonnage. 

While laying up at her wharf, and not in service, 33J per cent, 
more expense. 

By an enactment of Congress August 5 last, (1882,) however, 
the foUowino; is the effect of chans^es made : 

From gross tonnage to be deducted the tonnage of the 
spaces or compartments occupied by or appropriated to the use 
of the crew of the vessel, not in any case to exceed ■Q.ve per 
centum of the gross tonnage. In vessels propelled by steam, to 
be deducted from the gross tonnage of the vessel the tonnage of 
the space or spaces actually required to be enclosed for the 
proper working of the boilers and machinery, with the addition 
in the case of vessels propelled with paddle-wheels of fifty per- 
centum, and in case of vessels propelled by screws of seventy-five 
per centum of the tonnage of such space, no deduction from the 
gross tonnage to exceed fifty per centum of such tonnage. 

The register, in addition to what is now required by law to 
be expressed therein, shall state separately the deductions made 
from the gross tonnage, and shall also state the net or register 
tonnage of the vessel. 

1 For full conditions of the Admeasurement of Ships of all countries see Part 4. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 119 

POSTAL RESTRICTIONS. 

" Sec. 3976. The master of any vessel of the United States? 
bound from any port therein to any foreign port, or from any 
foreign port to any port in the United States, shall, before clear- 
ance, receive on board and securely convey all such mails as the 
Post Office Department or any diplomatic or consular agent 
abroad shall offer ; and he shall promptly deliver the same, at 
th.e port of destination, to the proper officer, for which he shall 
receive two cents for every letter so delivered ; and upon the entry 
of every such vessel returning from any foreign port, the master 
thereof shall maKe oath that he has promptly delivered all the 
mail placed on board said vessel before clearance from the United 
States; and if he fail to make such oath, the vessel shall not be 
entitled to the privileges of a vessel of the United States." 

Sections 3987, 4009, 4203, 4204 all bear severely upon the 
American Ship. 

It is expressed that your Committee are unanimous in the 
opinion that the elimination of the Post Office Restrictions upon 
a United States ship is essential. 

This would be a great concession on the part of Congress to 
the "old guard" of steamships that have the privilege of carry- 
ing the mails. It is the greatest actual burden of our steam ship- 
ping ! 

But suppose these " half dozen " American ships are run off 
through losses from competition with foreign subsidized ships, 
that can afford to reduce the rate of freights ; what benefit will 
such elimination be without ships ? 

This Postal Restriction is far more of a burden than is gen- 
erally supposed. It holds back the American ship in departure, 
without compensation therefor, while the foreign ship reaches 
the point of competitive destination some time in advance of our 
own ship, enabling the former to deliver to consignees cargo 
in advance, and receiving the preference of shippers even at ad- 
vance rates. 

The elimination of these sections is one of the most essential 
features in the revival of our " carrying trade." Eliminate them 
from our statutes, for they are the device of those interested in 
foreign capital ; and in lieu thereof provide for the proper pay- 
ment for United States Mail carrying by steamships upon the 
-same ratio of compensation per mile as made to overland carriers, i 

^ See the second division of argument — " Bounty." 



120 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

Congress has no right to compel our steamships to do the work of 
the nation for a contemptible pittance, that does not pay for 
carting the mails to and from the steamship, and at the same 
time to dance attendance on the will of the Postmaster before a 
clearance for departure can be obtained. 

LOCAL FEES. 

When the fathers of our country so carefully and perfectly 
prepared that noble instrument, the " Constitution of the United 
States," they added the following clause. Article 1st, section 10, 
paragraph 3, which still remains, and should have been inviolate, 
as follows : 

Hs * * * * * 

" No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty on 
tonnage J' 

The gross abuse by certain States of our Union of this prohibi- 
tion of our Constitution, foreseen, forewarned, and forestalled ; 
the disregard of this distinct law and protective measure, is as 
inexcusable as inexplicable, and if proper reparation could be 
required, those States should be made to return, with interest, 
the unlawful assessments that their servants in authority have 
made, and tortured from the hard-struggling shipowner, from 
year to year. 

As an illustration of this persecution against our shipping 
community, the State taxation against the tonnage of the Pacific 
Mail Steamship Company has amounted in 1881 to $10,000. 

Local fees are still required in the following States : 

Maine As on personal property. 

Massachusetts On the income of vessels only.. 

Maryland As on personal property. 

Virginia 

North Carolinia 

South Carolina 

Florida 

California 

Oregon 

Personal property tax ranges from 2 to 4J per cent, on assessed 
value. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPINa. 121 

CONSULAR FEES. 

The unjust fees upon American Ship-owners, viz : of $800,000, 
and starvation of Consuls, are severely criticised ; yet the Consul 
does not absorb this tax by any means. ^ 

The total Ship-owning value in the world in carry- 
ing tonnage is $103,390,000 

Of which Great Britain owns ^ 55,000,000 

And all the remainder of the world only 48,390,000 

With over one-half the tonnage of tlie world, Eng- 
land exacts only, in Consular Fees, from her 

Consular Service 200,000 

While the United States exacts four times the sum_ 800,000 

Great Britain appropriates for this service 1,300,000 

The United States 750,000 

The British excess of appropriation over fees is 1,100,000 

The United States excess of fees over appropriation is 80,000 

Here is the remarkable evidence that Great Britain, with a 
Consul in every (real) port of the world, with far more sagacity 
in commercial administration than we have yet shown, and with 
a tonnage vastly greater than ours, exacts only one-fourth the 
amount of Consular Fees. 

The American Statistical Review, in 1879, made strong 
efforts to enlist the interest of Congress for a reconstruction of 
this important branch of service to the prosperity of our 
countr}^ — individually and nationally. That magazine argued 
for a purely commercial corps of workers as well as for a reduc- 
tion of fees against United States ships, as follows : 

" Consuls were first created at Corinth by appointment to mercantile posts. 
Selected from merchants (not politicians) who understood the commercial rela- 
tions of their country — men of manners, who studied to advance the trade of their 
people. A source of revenue also, the aggregate of fees received therefrom being 
at present (1879) over $70,000 in excess of expenses." 

And aofain it called attention to the fact that — 



'O* 



"Great Britain has wisely accumulated strength and prosperity by a liberal 
policy to her mail ships, yet advises other nations that such policy is unwisdom. 
Great Britain supports her courts to protect ships. The United States starves her 
Consuls and make them scrape their fees from off the Americans ships to add a few 
pennies to the United States Treasury under the pretence of economy." 

1 For a detailed comparative exhibit of Consular Fees of the United States, 
Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy, see Part 3. 



122 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



To understand the exact condition of this burden and to see 
what fees the Consul actually requires from ship owners, it is 
necessary to examine theConsularTariff. 

The following clause was entered upon our Statutes by virtue 
of the ^'Act making appropriations for the Consular and Diplomatic 
Service for the year ending ISSO/' approved January 27, 1879, viz, 
(an amendment offered by the Hon. Mr. Hewitt) : 

"And the President is requested to revise the tariff" of consular 
fees, and prescribe such rates as will make them conform, as 
nearly as may be, to the fees charged by other commercial 
nations for similar services." 

Although the above did not specify the fee per tonnage in 
foreign ports, it was, nevertheless, hoped especially that a mod- 
ification of these burdens to American shipping would be made. 

The following comparison of old and new rates is taken from 
advance sheets of Hill's "Analyses of Tariffs of the World : " 

Note. — Specifications that have been omitted in new tarift'are marked dropped, 
those added are given in italics. 

Acknowledgments. Old New 

rate. rate. 
1874. 

Of the master to bottomry -bond, with certificate under seal _- $2 50 $1 00 

Of the master to a mortgage or mortgage bill of sale of vessel 2 00 1 00 

Of the master to an order for payment of seamen's wages or voy- 
ages, at home, including making up the order if required 2 50 1 00 

Of the merchant to assignment of bottomry-bond 2 00 1 00 

Of the vendor to a bill of sale of vessel 2 00 1 00 

Authenticating copies of papers. 

Of advertisement for funds on bottomry 1 00 1 00 

Of inventories and letters or either, of master 1 00 1 00 

Of marine note of protest 1 00 1 00 

Of extended protest 1 00 1 00 

Of account of sales of vessel, cargo, provisions and stores or either- 1 00 1 00 

Of advertisement of sale of vessel or cargo, provisions, or stores, 
(dropped) 1 00 

Of call, warrant, and report of survey on vessel, hatches, cargo, 

provisions and stores, or either 1 00 1 00 

Authenticating signatures. 

To estimate of repairs of vessels 2 00 1 00 

To (auctioneer's) account of sales of vessel or cargo, provisions or 

stores 2 00 1 00 

To reports of survey on vessel or cargo, provisions or stores 2 00 1 00 

Of forms of application for arrears of pay of bounty of deceased or 

disabled soldiers 25 25 

.:v -X- * 7^ -:^ ^v -X- ^c 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 123 

Certificates. 

To bill of health $2 50 $2 50 

Of indorsement of bottomry on ship's register 2 00 1 00 

Of ditto on pajMiient of bottomry on ship's register 2 00 1 00 

Of ditto of new ownership on ship's register 2 00 1 00 

Of canceling ship's register 2 00 1 00 

To currency 1 1 00 1 00 

Debenture certificate, including oaths of master and mate 5 00 2 50 

Of decision and award, in cases of protests against masters, passen- 
gers, or crew 5 00 1 00 

Of the deposit of a ship's register and papers when required by cus- 
tom-house authorities 2 00 1 00 

Incases of vessels deviating from the voyage 2 00 1 00 

When ship's register is retained entire in the Consulate (dropped) 2 00 

Of identity (dropped) 2 00 

To invoice, including declaration, in triplicate 2 50 2 50 

Of appointment of new master, including oath of master 2 00 2 00 

Oiven to a master at his own request, if less than two hundred 

words, under seal 2 00 1 00 

For every additional hundred words (dropped) 1 00 

Of the ownership of a vessel 2 00 1 00 

To a seaman of his discharge No fee. No fee. 

For master to take home destitute American seamen No fee. No fee. 

Of conduct of crew on board, in cases of recusal of duty and in 

cases of imprisonment, &c 2 00 2 00 

Of sea letter (dropped) 3 00 

Of roll or list of crew, when required by the captain or authorities 

of the port 2 00 1 00 

To shipping-articles (dropped) 2 00 

For medical examinaiian of jiersons on vessels hound from foreign 
ports to ports in the United States : 

For twelve persons and under 1 50 

For over twelve and not over twenty persons — 2 50 

From twenty to one hundred for each ten persons or less 1 00 

Over one hundred., at the rate of ^5 for each additional hundred 
persons. 
In cases of vessels deviating from the voyage 1 00 

To a vessel' s manifest __ 2 50 

To the purchase of foreign-built or American vessel abroad 2 50 

To the examinatio7i required by section 2162 of the Revised Statute 

for each emigrant {Art. XXI) 25 

To one or more deaths or losses of seamen overboard at sea, includ- 
ing oaths attached to crew-list and shipping-articles, each 50 50 

To ship's inventories and stores 50 50 

To the correctness of log-book 50 50 

To ship's bills and vouchers for disbursements and repairs 50 50 

To the animals, vehicles, and goods of an emigrant, including certifi- 
cates 50 

When seamen were picked up at sea No fee. 

Filing Documents in Consulate. 

Oonsul's certificate to advertisement for funds on bottomry 25 25 

Inventories of vessels, cargo, provisions, and stores, or either 25 25 

Estimate of repairs of vessel 25 25 

To advertisement of sale of vessel, cargo, provisions, and stores, or 

either 25 25 

Letter of master notifying Consul of sale of vessel, cargo, provisions, 

and stores, or either 25 25 

Of master notifying auctioneer of sale of vessel, cargo, provisions, 

and stores, or either 25 25 



124 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

Accounts of sale of vessel, cargo, provisions, and stores, or either__|0 25 $0 25 
Calls of survey on vessels, hatches, cargo, provisions, and stores, or 

eithei 25 25 

Warrants of survey on vessels, hatches, cargoes, provisions, and 

stores, or either 25 25 

Keports of survey on vessels, hatches, c'argoes, provisions, and stores, 

or either 25 25 

For filing any other document in or out of the consulate 25 25 

ConsuVs Orders and Letters. 

To send seamen to hospital No fee. 

To send seamen to prison 2 00 1 GO 

To release seaman from prison 2 00 1 00 

To authorities or captain of the port, in cases of sinking vessels 2 00 1 00 

Requestini; the arrest of seamen 2 00 1 00 

■X-* -^ * * ^ * * 

Notice to master of result of examination of complaint of crew 1 00 

Warrant of survey on vessels^ hatches^ cargo ^ provisions ^ and stores^ 

or either 1 00 

Notifying surveyors of their appointment 1 00 

Protests. 

For noting marine protest 2 00 2 00 

For extending marine protest 3 00 3 00 

And if it exceed two hundred words, for every additional one hun- 
dred words 50 50 

For issuing warrant of survey on vessels, hatches, cargo, provisions, 

and stores, or either, (dropped) 2 00 

Notifying surveyors of their appointment, also notifying agents of 

insurance companies interested, each, (dropped) 1 00 

Protest of master against charterers or fr tighter s 2 00 

Preparing Documents. 

For preparing agreement of master to give increased wages to sea- 
men, attested under seal (dropped) 2 00 

Recording Docum,ents. 

Appointment of new master 50 50 

Average bonds, when required, for every one hundred words 50 50 

Bill of sale, when required, for every one hundred words 50 50 

Certificate given to master at his own request, when required 50 50 

Consul's letter to captain of port, or authorities, in case of sinking- 
vessels 50 50 

Order and Consul's certificate to pay seamen's wages or voyages, at 

home 50 50 

Powers of attorney, when required, for every hundred words 50 50 

Protests of masters and others, o'v.hef than marine protests, for every 

one hundred words 50 50 

Sea-letter, for every one hundred words 50 50 

Calls of survey on vessel, hatches, cargo, provisions, and stores, or 
either ; warrants and reports thereof; estimates of repair ; certifi- 
cates of Consuls to advertisements for funds on bottomry, and of 
sale of vessel ; inventory of vessel, cargo, provisions, and stores ; 
letter of master to Consul notifying sale of vessel, cargo, provisions, 
and stores, or either ; letter of master to auctioneer, and account 
of sales of vessels, cargo, provisions, and stores, or either, for every 
one hundred words of any document required to be recorded, ex- 
c-ept Consul's certificate to masters taking home American seamen, 50 50 

y, -x- * * -X- -Jt * * 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 125 

Receiving and delivering ship^s papers. 

For receiving and delivering ships's register and papers, including 
consular certificates as prescribed in Forms Nos. 13 and 14, one 
cent on every ton, registered measurement of the vessel for which 
the service is performed, if under one thousand tons ; but Ameri- 
can vessels running regularly by weekly or monthly trips, or 
otherwise, to or between foreign ports shall not be required to pay 
fees for more than four trips in a year ; and tonnage-fees shall not 
be exacted from any vessel of the United States touching at or 
near ports in Canada, on her regular voyage from one port to 
another within the United States, unless some official service re- 
quired by law shall be performed $0 01 $0 01 

And for every additional ton over one thousand, one half of one 

cent OJ 0^ 

Shipping or discharging seamen. 

For every seaman who maybe discharged or shipped, including the 
certificates therefor attached to crew-list and shipping-articles, to 
be paid by the master of the vessel 1 00 1 00 

Miscellaneous services. 

For clearance when issued by the consul^ as at free ports __ 2 00 

For entry of result of examination in vesseVs log-book 2 00 

Agreement of Tnaster to give increased wages __ 1 00 

For issuing^ preparing , and executing the receipt for two-thirds extra 
wages ; the waiver of two-thirds extra wages ; complaint of crew 
of bad quality or insufficient quantity of provisions or water; 
affidavit or certificate of attending physician ; receipt for effects of 
deceased seamen No fee. 

Thus it will be seen that the only result from the above quoted 
provision or request for revision of fees against American ship- 
ping, has been in charges for ''acknowledgments, authenticating 
signatures, etc.," while even in this respect many other specifica- 
tions have been added. 

While it is true that the onerous paragraph creating the fee 
per tonnage "for receiving and delivering the ship's papers, has 
been changed from the Appendix to the body of the Consular Regala- 
lations, the fee reappears unchanged in rate or per tonnage under 
or over 1000 tons, and the fee for shipping or discharging sea- 
men," also remains excessive as formerly. 

The basis of a Tariff of " Consular Fees," of Great Britain, 
has not been reached by any means, as there are 106 specified 
United States charges, against 39 British cfiargcs. 

In the British Tans' there is no charge whatever to compare 
with our one cent, per ton tax "for receiving and delivering 
ship's papers," as referred to above ; and " for shipping and dis- 
charging seamen" the rate of Great Britain is only 50 cents 
compared with $1.00 per capita of our tariff.^ 

^ See Addenda for Comparative Tarifis of principal countries. 



126 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

The returns from the Consular Fees from charges against 
American Shipping for 1882, are as follows : 

Vessels Fees and Charges, 

Shipping and discharging crews $16,478 98 

Tonnage dues 30,181 94 

Bills of health and clearances 25,161 24 

Other fees 22,502 55 

Extra wages 35,581 47 

$129,906 18 

Thus it will be seen, as the Fifth Auditor remarks in his offi- 
cial report, that, notwithstanding the very considerable decrease, 
which took effect October, 1881, the fees received for 1882 are 
$46,774.19 in excess of 1881.^ 

This fact does not altogether show an increase in transactions, 
but that the decrease has not been effectual in the object and 
points desired. 

It is therefore recommended — 

1. That American vessels wholly owned by citizens of the 
United States, touching at any or all foreign ports, shall have 
exemption from paying tonnage fees for ship's papers as nov/ 
granted to such ships touching at Canadian ports. 

2. That American vessels be not required to pay three months' 
wages to all seamen discharged in foreign ports, or that the law 
be at least suspended until we have " American seamen " to 
return home. 

3. That all consular fees charged to American vessels in sup- 
port of the Consular service be abolished. 



SHIPPING COMMISSIONERS FEES. 
E. S., Title 53, Sees. 4501-4502, 1872. 

Of all the home evils that handicap the welfare of what might 
be an American seaman, and just treatment of American ship- 
owners, there is nothing more of an obstacle than this so-called 
Shipping Commission excepting that of our Postal Restrictions. 

This title is a disgrace to national legislation, and should be 
eliminated from our statutes or corrected and limited in authority. 

No greater burden, as an evil to American Shipping, exists 
than the so-called " Shipping Commission." 

1 For a comparison of fees of the principal nations upon tonnage in foreign 
ports, see Addenda. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 127 

A pest to ship-owners and an imposition upon seanaen. 

Your committee has, however, been told about the " blood 
money" exacted, and the petty abuses resulting from this source, 
to the injury and dissipation of harmony in the discipline of a 
Steamship Company, by the unwise creation of this Commission, 
and by the exacting of a taxation of fees, contributing to its sup. 
port. 

Complaint after complaint has been made, year after year, 
against this incubus to ship-owners; yet, strange to say, the bur- 
den remains. 

Great Britain has long since abandoned such an inoperative 
system ; and, although late, there is yet time to improve by its 
immediate abolition. 

The official returns of this service show — 

That it robs our shipowners of more of their scanty earnings 
than an}' other burdens ; 

That it interrupts the discipline of the service ; and 

That it exacts from the poor sailor the last dollar, or leaves 
him who is without the means or disposition to be bled, to remain 
idle in our streets. 

The fees enacted hy law are — 

Fee payable for each seaman of crew |2 00 

" " on discharge 50 

" " for each boy apprentice 5 00 

The fees exacted by the incompleteness of the law are many, 
and underhanded, but notwithstanding the immense returns of 
hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly, and wdiich is made to 
Government, as the commissioner's yearly salary is nominally 
§5,000, the perquisites, and so-called " blood money," is a source 
from which wealth and the life earnings of the ship flows to the 
official. 1 

It should not be expected that testimony coming from this 
Commissioner would be free from bias, or based upon informa- 
tion beyond his own peculiar interest. 

^ See under Foreign Policies " for greater wisdom in Foreign Laws." 



128 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



INSURANCE COMBINATION. 

More properly, this condition belongs under the division, of 
this argunient, of *' Booty."' Xo condition influencing our ship- 
ping or rendering more damage to other industries mutually 
can be cited, than the pooling of interest in Great Britain by the 
shipbuilders, merchants, underwriters and consular corps against 
all shipping of the world foreign to her Majesty's service. 

This is legitimate: it is wise; it has been the chain of influences 
encircling the globe, and connected with every port in the world; 
its power and the facility with which it is shielded against com- 
petition is similar to the power of a school of sharks against the 
simpTe defence of a more beautiful and acceptable object of the sea. 

It is however an amphibious creation that feeds upon American 
commerce and destroys American shipping. 

How long will it be before a chain of American financial 
agencies is created of home insurance, home shipbuilding, home 
shipowning, and our own consular service in defense against such 
wise business combination of England, as were our navigation 
laws in dernier necessity of defense ? for this incorporation, 
viz. : the British Lloyd was simply the substitute in the abolition 
of and alias for the British navis^ation act.^ 



LIGHT-HOUSE EEES. 

" R. S., sec. 4225 : A duty of fifty cents per ton, to be denomi- 
nated 'light money,' shall be levied and collected on all vessels 
not of the United States which may enter the ports of the United 
States. Such light money shall be levied and collected in the 
same manner and under the same resrulations as the tonnas^e 
duties." Approved March 27, 1804. 

It will be seen that, by wise provision, this "light money," 
or fee, is required at present of only foreign ships, and the 
the absurdity of claiming this as a burden upon the American 
ship simply devised by those agents who are endeavoring by 
every persuasive misrepresentation to point away from, rather 
than to, the true cause of our shipping decline. 

The admission of foreign ships to free entry must grant every 
privilege of birthright under American Register, and couse- 

^ The writer has so often drawn attention to the condition and immense influ- 
ence against American shipping, while Congress seems deaf to appeal, that the im- 
portance thereof has suggested a detailed exhibit prepared for Addenda, following 
pages under Foreign Policies. 



THE MONOPOLY OF THE CARRYING TRADE 



OF THE 



A\^ORLD 



BY 



BRITISH stej^::m SHIFJPIlsrO, 



UNDER THE CONTROL OF 



British Lloyds, Exclieqiier and Board of Admiralty 



Progress of Steam in the Shipping of Nations. 

(Ships in Forei.£:n Trade only.) 





1840. 


1850. 


1860. ' 1870. 1880. 


1882. 


Austriii _ _ _ 








49.977 54.600 

9, .301 65.224 

10.453 ; 44,240 


91,157 


Bol<''iuni 


1,048 


1,604 


.4,254 


74,119 

79,888 

464.179 

332.034 


Denmark 


France^ 

Germany _ _ - 


9,535 


13,925 


68,025 


1-34,415 ! 277,759 
81,994 i 215,758 
19.4.35 64,394 
32,100 ; 77,0.50 
13,715 ' 38.4H3 


Holland 

Italv. 





2,706 


10,132 


119,021 
1 1 1 ,055 


Norway 






76,768 


Ku^"^ia 










69,027 
81,049 


134,550 

95,429 

220,085 


Sweden. __ _ . 










Spain 










152,604 

2,720,551 

170.838 


United Kingdom 

United States 


87,539 
4,155 


167,698 
44,942 


452,352 
97,296 


1,111,375 
192,544 


24,823,043 
154,570 



^ The adyance Trade in French Shipping under the new Bounty Law is here 
seen. 

- Bureau Veritas. 

U. S. Consul Jones, in Consular Report No. 26, page 70, giyes the gross steam 
tonnage of this year a.>* 6,860,000 tons, but the above figures (all) represent foreign 
trade, hence the small tonnage of the United States will be noted — the total steam 
tonnage thereof being 1,355,826. (See also table Progress of Steam Tonnage.) 

In the British Consular Regulation-, paragraph 20, Consular Officers are 
directed to act as agents to the British Lloyds and to British Sfcntn Xnvicfation 
Companies having contracts for carrying Her Majesty's Mails. (See '• Booty.") 



9h 



(129) 



Record of Steam Vessels Built in 1837, and of the Total Registered 
Steam Vessels in the United States in 1838. 

(From Official Report of Secretary of the Treasury, 1838.) 





1838. 


1837. 


States. 


Number 
steam vessels. 
(Registered.) 


Tonnage 
steam vessels. 
(Registered.) 


Tonnage 
steam vessels. 
(Registered.) 


Number 

steam vessels 

built. 


Maine 

New Hampshire-.. 

Vermont 

Massachusetts 

Rhode Island 

Connecticut 

New York 

New Jersey 

Pennsylvania 

Delaware 

Maryland 

Dist. of Columbia- 
Virginia 

North Carolina- 
South Carolinia-- 

Georgia 

Florida 

Alabama 

Mississippi i 
Arkansas ^ 

Louisiana 

Tennessee ^ 


8 

1 

4 

12 

2 

19 

140 

21 

1.34 

3 

19 

5 

16 

11 

22 

29 

17 

18 

30 


1,609 

215 

903 

1,443 

698 

4,103 

29,708 

3,757 

18,243 

494 

6,800 

801 

1,970 

2,014 

4,794 

4,273 

1,974 

2,703 

4,986 


171 

965 

2,641 

24,437 

444 
19,331 

373 
7,135 
1.477 
1,667 

521 
4,715 
4,521 
1,194 
4,396 

54,421 
5,193 

1,714 

3,668 

12,375 

2,193 


1 

1 

1 

16 

48 

4 
1 

1 
5 
2 

9 
2 


Illinois"'^ 
Indiana^ 

Kentucky 

Iowa ^ 
Wisconsin ^ 

Missouri 

Ohio - _- - 


41 

42 

79 
13 
14 


8,356 

7,967 

15,396 

2,611 

9,011 


42 


Michigan 

U. S. Government 


1 


Total 


700 


126,693 


153,600 


135 



^ No returns. 

■■^ No returns except in part with Indiana and Kentucky. 

^ No returns except in part with Michigan. 

The estimated figures for those States are, viz. : 

Number, 100, making a total of 800 steam vessels. 

Tonnage, 1,813, making a total of 155,473 tons. 



(130) 



HISTORY OF AiMERICAN SHIPPING. 131 

quently cause a diminution in revenue to the Coast Survey Ser- 
vice, and au additional tax upon our people, thus subsidizing 
correspondingly foreign labor. 

Let the farmer ponder well upon this. 



CUSTOMS TARIFF. 

No greater absurdity was ever promulgated than the delusive 
cry that the Tariff on Imports affects the existence of the ship.^ 

It is not intended here to argue in favor of protection or free 
trade, but to cite fiicts only. 

The history of Great Britain contradicts this imagination so 
emphatically that it is only necessary to remind you that she 
became " Mistress of the Seas under the most proscriptive tariff 
of the world, until 1859." 

The fallacy of British statesmen or statists in declaring 
or arguing that Great Britain has been benefited, from the mere 
fact of free ships and free trade, or that such was the philan- 
thropic impulse that led to the repeal of the Navigation Law in 
1849, (January 1st, 1850,} and of her General Tariff in 1859, or 
her Corn Laws in 1846, is clearly shown by the highest British 
authority, Sir Edward Sullivan, who says : 

" Thirty years ago England had almost a monopoly of the 
manufacturing industries of the world ; she produced ecerything in 
excess of consumption ; other nations comparatively nothing." 

This was the reason of Great Britain's magnanimity and liber- 
ality. 

Here is what a LTnited States Consul writes on the growth of 
British Shipping, in the official Consular Reports, published 
monthly ; speaking of the strength of England in iron resources ; 
the doubt at first as to its utility, but soon realizing the im- 
mense power she possessed, and recognizing also the complete 
impotency of other nations comparatively. The Consul of New- 
castle, England, says : 

" The reaction which followed the close of the Crimean war, 
together with the successful competition of American tonnage, 
influenced unfavorably the earnings of the wooden ships. Enter- 
prising owners looked around for a remedy. The screw^ collier 
John Bowes had proved a commercial success. If iron steamers 
ens^asred in the London and Northeastern coal trade left a satis- 
factory margin of profit, why could the same class of tonnage 

^See also evidence under " Navigation Laws." 



132 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



not be advantageously employed in carrying grain and other 
merchandise on long voyages ? Partnerships were formed and 
companies organized upon the Tyne and Wear, and elsewhere, 
to build or buy large cargo-carrying iron screw steamers to do a 
" roving " trade — that is, to take cargoes anywhere upon voy- 
ages offering the most remunerative freight." 

Our Customs Tariff is no more a restriction upon our Ship- 
ping than was " the poor slave," whose fetters some are now 
trying to find and shake before the weak-minded or prejudiced 
as the connecting link and the compromise in effecting our Navi- 
gation Law^s. (See pages 14-16.) 

Such fallac}^ may aggravate prejudice against American Indus- 
try, but can never be made history. Even the ardent free-trader 
and British shipper, a most able, although partial, writer, Mr. 
Lindsay, records a flat denial, that stamps such insinuation as 
absurd, as follows : 

*'A very large amount of capital had been invested by Ameri- 
cans in the famous ships employed in the California trade; but 
even these, before the close of 1854, were becoming unremunera- 
tive, owing to the competition of British iron and screw steamers, 
which w^ere the main weapon whereby loe bade defiance to the 
competition of all other nations in the general ocean race then 
just then commenced." 

Let, then, all false teachings be hushed. 

At this hour the U. S. Congress betrayed our great Industry — 
and has, even " thrice." 

There was no competition possible in yield of profit. The 
only way for England to increase profits w^as to gather in and 
monopolize foreign trade. 

Such step was the abolition of her ^N'avigation Laws, and an 
invitation proclamation to the world to enter British ports — 
for what ? For her monopoly ? 

It was wisdom, political economy. Laws of nations must be 
wise and self-protective or a nation's powder must end. 

The same Consul continues, " Wealth accumulated rapidly in 
the coffers of iron-ship owners, and the demand for shares in 
vessels in course of construction doubled the number at disposal. 
A fresh lease of prosperity was secured by the opening of the 
Suez Canal. The irony of history is nowhere more keen and 
significant than in connection with this great engineering tri- 
umph. Lord Palmerston opposed the scheme 'upon political 
grounds.' Lord Beaconsfield purchased a controlling influence 
\n the management of the canal upon political grounds. And 



HISTORY OF AiMERICAN SHIPPING. 



133 



the government of Mr. Gladstone goes to war, in fact, if not os- 
tensibl^^to maintain control and assert supremacy over the great 
highway to India. The premier's position is tenable ; this is a 
commercial nation ; 80 per cent, of the tonnage passing through 
the canal sails under the British ensign." 

Here is the truth presented — the cause, and the result! 



NAVIGATION LAW RESTRICTIONS. 

In the foregoing pages it has been shown that those laws were 
based upon the necessitj- of retaliation and protection against 
depredations of British ships. It is here necessary to consider 
whether their abolition would be beneficial to us or not, at this 
period. 

In view of the continual labored attempts to prove that the 
' Repeal of the British ;N"avigation Law ' caused a benefit in- 
stead of a depression to British shipping, the following table of 
official figures to prove the true result, and to show that British 
ship-owners and the British carrying trade would have been 
ruined thereby, had any other nation beei^ in a condition to 
build iron steamers, and make a competitive struggle. 

Interests of British Ship-Owners. 



Annual average. 



Difference. 



1834 to 1838 -. 
1844 to 1848- . 
1854 to 1858- . 



1844 to 1848 \'\ Increase 

ll 
over I )■ 

II 
1834 to 1838- 



1854 to 1858_. 

over 
1844 to 1848- 



J Percentage. [ 

] Increase. 
I 

\ 

J Percentage. [ 



Total tonnage entered during each 5 year 




period. 




British. 


Foreign, 


Total. 


P'rcGnt'ge 
of British 
to total. 


Tons. 


Tons. 


To)is. 




. 2,529,604 


981,480 


3,511.048 


72 


4,352,092 


1,831,570 


6,183,662 


70 


6,065,793 


4,154,735 


10,220,528 


59 


1,822,488 


850,090 


2,672,578 


m 


72 


86 


76 




1,713,701 


2,323,165 


4,036,866 


42 


39 


126 


65 





134 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



Thus it will be seen that the repeal of British N^avigation 
Laws caused an increase oi foreign over British tonnage of (126 
less 39) 87 per cent., on a comparison of the five years of equal 
period before and after repeal, viz. : 1844 to 1848, and 1854 
to 1858. To see also further, let us take a similar view at the 
carryintr trade before and during the same period. 

The Carrying Trade {of Commerce) of Great Britain before and after 
Repeal of Navigation Laws. 



Annual Average, 


Total Value of 

Exports of 
Great Britain. 


Tons of Commerce E 


xported. 


ntage 

•itish 

tal. 


British. 


Foreign. 


Total. 


Perce 
of Bi 

to to 






Tons. 


Tons. 


Tons. 




1834 to 1838 


$235,000,000 


2,534,261 


1,010,551 


3,544,812 


71. 


1844 to 1848 


290,000,000 


4,395,217 


1,906,217 


6,301,434 


67. 


1854 to 1858 


5(t),000,000 


6,173,380 


4,453,068 


10,626,748 


58. 


1844 to 1848 












over 


55,000,000 


1,860,956 


895,666 


2,756,622 




1834 to 1838 


22. 


73. 


88. 


77. 


67. 


1854 to 1858 












over 


260,000,000 


1,778,163 


2,547,151 


4,325,314 


41. 


1844 to 1848 


90. 


40. 


133. 


68. 





In the above it will be seen that England was terribly shaken 
in tonnage of ships and shipping trade by the repeal, and that 
the gain of foreign over British shipping trade increased (133-40) 
93 per cent, on a comparison of the five-year periods given before 
and after the repeal. 

Had not the resources of Great Britain at this time in iron ore 
and iron manufactures been so far greater than all other nations 
British Shipping would have been paralj'zed. The United States 
could not stand such a repeal; her shipping, now struggling for 
existence in competition, would be completely wiped out. 

Iron ! British iron, was the power, as shown above, that " defied 
nations "; iron in manufactures on land and in ships on the seas — 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 135 

supported by the British exchequer and the British Lloyds — 
" defied " the combined world of this " infantile industry." 

But what relation do our Navigation Laws bear to this monopoly 
of England ? They are our only actual means of present defense. 
Our coasting trade is all that we have left. (See *' Coasting 
Trade " Addenda.) 

Here is the opinion of the first and famous writer upon "Free 
Trade" — a "glittering generality" for our theoretical professors 
of dead languages and dead literature. 

"As defence, however, is of much more importance than opu- 
luence, the act of navigation is, perhaps, the wisest of all the commer- 
cial regulations of England." (Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations.) 

For this expression, Mr. Macgregor, the British commercial 
historian, administers a rebuke, terming it one of Mr. Smith's 
"few fallacies." 

Are we in the condition to cope with Great Britain in this 
industry to-day ? Could we possibly stand the shock that Eng- 
land sustained with ever}- advantage and monopoly in her hands. 

What nation besides Great Britain is without navigation laws, 
that possesses ships and controls her own carrying trade. It is 
necessary, therefore, to look into the condition of our ship-build- 
ing industry. 



CONDITIONS OF SHIP-BUILDING. 

Referring to the unjust assertion, rather than query, purported 
to be issued by the committee — before its convening — that it is not 
possible for Americans to rival Great Britain in the art of ship- 
building, it is now proposed to look into the conditions, cost, fa- 
cilities, and to the record made in American history, and of our 
tonnage to-day. 

Without dwelling tediously upon our record of the past, the 
illustrations herein presented of the " Great Republic," the " Atlan - 
tic" and the "Peking" markirrefutably our prestige and the three 
epochs of the world's shipping. It is not claimed that to-day 
we can build as cheaply, but in completeness, not even England 
can boast of superiority over the American iron ship now 



136 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

launched from our perfected ship-yards on the Delaware. 

But for comparison, let us revive the testimony of one now 
gone, but whose identity with this great industry of our country 
will be immortal. 

Office of the Westervelt Ship-yard, 
Green Point, Long Island, February 4, 1868. 

Sir : I have received your letter of the 31st ultimo, requesting 
me to communicate to the Bureau of Statistics any information 
in my possession upon which an estimate can be based of the 
average value per ton of all the merchant vessels of the United 
States in 1828, or any year thereabout, or any year or years since. 

The cost of first class merchant ships built in this city, say,. 
from the year 1828 to 1855, would average about $65 per ton ; 
consequently, a ship of 1,000 tons would cost $65,000, when new 
and ready for sea. But as you want to get at the value of the 
whole of the mercantile marine, I think it is fair to assume that 
the average of the whole would show that they were six years 
old, and consequently the value of the whole should be estimated 
from that view of the case. 

1 have found the depreciation of ship property to be about six 
per cent, per annum ; and supposing a good vessel to depreciate- 
at that rate, it would follow that a ship of 1,000 tons, and costing, 
when new, $65,000, would, at the end of six years, have depre- 
ciated $23,400, and leaving her value $41,600, or $41 6-10 per 
ton. 

I suppose, however, that ships built in New England and else- 
where in the United States cost something less, and I would^ 
therefore, put the value of the whole mercantile fleet, during the 
years above mentioned, at $40 per ton. 
Yours, respectfully, 

Jacob A. Westervelt. 

This was the period when American ship-building should have 
been revived. Congress had (1866) made an appropriation for 
carrying the mail across the Pacific. Iron ships had been built 
by Messrs. Harlan & Hollingsworth, and Cramp & Sons had sent 
out upon the deep that terrible destroyer, the Ironsides, with 10 
guns broadside. It is strange, but painfully true and necessary 
to record, that those who received this aid from Congress spent 
not only that bounty, but the earnings of their treasury, the 
Pacific Mail Steamship Company, in building wooden ships, when 
the world had known for years, and the monitors of our civil 
war had proven that iron was " king of the seas." 

Referring to such folly, (even in 1854,) Mr. Lindsay writes, ridi- 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 137 

culingly, " had it not been for the resources we held within our- 
selves, (iron, coal, &c.,) and the indomitable energy of our people, 
foreign shipping might then and there have gained an ascendancy 
which might not afterward have been easily overcome. We had 
one advantage which our great American competitor did not pos- 
sess. We had iron in abundance, and about this period we were 
specially directing our attention to the construction of iron ships 
to be propelled by the screw." 

The U. S. Consul at ^ewcastle-qn-the-Tyne, writes, " When 
efforts were being made to establish a line of steamers between 
Newcastle and New York, it was contemplated to build two 
steamers on the Tyne, whilst a well known American lirm would 
construct two more. The measurements, speed, accommodation, 
and requirements were identical in both cases; and one of the 
managing owners, himself an experienced navigator, conversant 
with ships in all their details, states the difference between 
the cost of British and American ships to be about 20 per cent, 
in favor of the "old country." 

This practical although partial Inspector reported as follows : 

" The bids we had for Taurus steamers, 4,500 tons burden, 
were low at the time we took them ; but prices went up shortly 
afterwards. I then, before the rise, estimated the difference be- 
tween American and British prices at 20 per cent, at least; but 
A. B., the steamship builder of New York and Philadelphia, 
made the difference only 16 per cent.; in fact, he offered to build 
within that figure of any average tender we could show him from 
this side. The work I saw in American yards was, to all appear- 
ance, equal in quality to work on this side; but there were vari- 
eties in design, with a view to economize labor, which may or 
may not stand the test of actual hard service. The marine en- 
gine work was splendid, and, in my opinion^ superior to ours on 
this side. I had no opportunity of testing the quality of iron 
used in ship-building, but have no doubt it would compare favor- 
ably with the material used here." 

Here is testimony from a rival source that should make the 
author of the Committee's queries blush — for it is well known that 
such queries were not generated by the Committee. On page 238 
of Mr. Hewitt's report upon "Depression in Labor and Business," 
the following candid expression of Mr. Charles H. Marshall 
appears : 



138 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



The Chairman. Have you any knowledge as to the cost at 
which iron steamships can be built here at present? 

Mr. Marshall. I have no positive information in regard to 
that; but I have been told by Mr. Gause, the vice-president of the 
Harlan and Hollingsworth Company, at Wilmington, that an 
iron ship can be built in this country almost as cheap, if not as 
cheap, as she can be built on the other side. While I do not 
mean to dispute his assertion, my own impression is that there is 
a difference in the cost, and that an iron ship cannot be built in 
this country as cheaply as on the other side; but she can be built 
very much cheaper than she could be built a few years ago.^ 

Accepting this as our conditions in 1878, the progress that we 
have made since that time will be seen in the table of official 
figures given on page 38 of our tonnage to-day, viz : 

Iron ships registered in the United States 1878 (steam) 79,023 tons. 
" " " 1880 " 90,142 " 

" " " 1882 " 102,982 " 

The following official return of iron steam, vessels built in our 
country last year shows that it is only necessary to create the 
demand in our country for ships, by making their existence and 
subsistence possible — after being built, by affording the means to 
compete in freight and insurance rates with those subsidized, 
indemnified, aided, or mail-paid of other countries, and our iron 
ships will soon cover the ocean. 

From official Report of U. S. Register, 1882, ]). 145. 



Ports. 



Total. 



No. 


Tons. 


26 


26,576.40 


1 


436.92 


8 


6,006.09 


1 


623.50 


1 


08.95 


1 


86.64 


3 


4,076.82 


1 


2,164.42 


1 


27.05 


43 


40,096.79 



Philadelphia, Pa .. 
Pitt.sburgh,Pa....... 

Wilmington, Del .. 

Haltimore, Md 

Saint Loui.';, Mo .... 

Chicago, 111 

Detroit, I\lich 

Cleveland, Ohio.... 
San Francisco, Cal 

Total 



^ There were no iron sailing ships reported by the Register as built, although 
the Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department, (evidently a typographical error,) 
reports 43 tons. 



THE PIONEER 

IROA^ SHIPBUILDER OF AMERICA, 




SAMUEL HARLAN, Jr. 

1836. 

Betts, Pusey, and Harlan, in 1836, began partnership with plant covering less 
than two acres. The firm was changed to Betts, Harlan & Hollingsworth in 
1841, to Harlan & Hollingsworth in 1849; bj^ the admission of Mr. J. Taylor Gaiise, 
in 1858, to this title was affixed "Company," and in 1867 was incorporated a 
compan}^ under the title of The Harlan & Hollingsworth Company, and now has a 
})lant covering forty-three acres, and a record of over two hundred iron ships, 
"built since 1836. 

This firm built the first perfected iron steamer in this country — the propeller 
*' Bangor "—in 1843. 

The writer is not without full information of all asserted or just claims to 
priority in such record, especially the small boat " Codorus," of York, Pa., 
1825, (sent South,) the "Stevens Battery," (never completed,) the "Valley 
Forge," 200 tons, (river,) the " Novelty," (canal,) 1867, and, as shown in pre- 
ceding pages, the " Randolph " and " Fire Fly," which were sent over here in 
pieces; the "Stockton" afterward "New Jersey,") and others, imported, and 
the several small crafts that were built here more as experiment; but after care- 
ful research, it can be said without fear of authoritative denial, that as to Fulton 
belongs the fame of the first perfected steamship, so also to Samuel Harlan be- 
longs the fame of building the first perfected Iron Ship in America. 

(139) 



140 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 






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*This is the pioneer firm of America in iron Ship-building; the death of its venerable head, Mr. 
Samuel Harlan, has just been cabled from Europe, although his name will live forever in the records of 
our country and in the hearts of every American economist. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



141 







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142 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



In view of these official facts it seems remarkable that this 
Committee should question the steady development of our iron 
shipbuilding ! 

The Total Tonnage of the United States is as follows : 

(Foreign and home trade.) 



Classification. 


1881. 
Sail and Steam. 


1882. 
Sail and Steam. 


Decrease and 
increase. 




Vessels. 


Tons. 


Vessels. 


Tons. 




Registered (Foreign trade) 

Enrolled and licensed (coastwise 
trade) 


2,32G 
21,739 


1,335,586.18 
2,722,148.29 


2,185 
22,183 


1,292,294.50 
2,873,638.74 


D. 43,291.68 
I. 151,489.45 




Total 


24,065 


4,057,734.47 


24,368 


4,165,933.24 


1. 108,198.77 





Thus it will be seen that while there appears an increase in 
total tonnage, there was a decrease in the foreign service, still it 
must be remembered that there has been proportionately a steady 
increase in iron tonnage as shown above. 

It is not prudent to overlook the strength of a rival in any con- 
test; therefore, in contrast to this exhibit of iron shipbuilding in 
the United States — small, but growing in tonnage, and A 1 in 
completeness, needing only the demand to make the supply 
cheaper and abundant — let us look into British shipyards and 
see what is there being done.^ 

The estimated increase of steam tonnage for 1882 is given by 
our Consul at IsTewcastle as 1,170,000, which the Consul natu- 
rally terms unprecedented ; and if he is correct in this estimate, 
which is, in fact, confirmed by other authority, it is a matter 
certainly worthy of investigation as to the cause, especially as it 
is claimed to be built chiefly for the '^American trade." 

The Consular reports of the Department of State shows the 
following amount of tonnage built and location of shipyards in 
the United Kingdom, (1877 to 1881 :) 



1 The ''book of testimony " of the Committee, page 293, indicates that parties 
were appealed to for this information. Had the monthly Consular Keport been 
examined, this and other valuable information would have been found at hand. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



143 



1881 



Where built. 


Sailing. 


Steam. 


Total. 


Ships. 


Tons. 


Ships. 


Tons. 


Ships. 


• 
Tons. 




2 

1 
1 
2 


2,458 

121 

84 

199 



11 

3 
12 

5 
11 
80 
12 
10 
20 

6 
12 
14 
18 

8 
66 

3 
15 
22 



4 
103 
39 


3,291 

15,222 

349 

13,694 

1,212 
11,710 
77,901 
13,071 

9,949 
22,434 

6,973 

3,937 

13,396 

760 

9,2.31 
72,058 

2,975 
16,770 
11,199 

6,.586 

1,898 
91,040 

2,508 


8 
12 

4 
14 

5 
12 
108 
27 
10 
20 

8 
13 
23 
64 

8 

70 
14 
21 
34 

7 

6 
106 
243 


5,749 


Barrow 


15,343 




433 


Belfast. : 

Carnpelltown 


13,893 
1,212 




1 
28 
15 


851 
10,917 
11,072 


12,561 


(jljx'jsrow • 


88,828 




24,143 




9,949 


Hartlepool West 






22,434 


Hull '. 


2 

i 

9 
40 


158 

901 

12,051 

1,963 


7,131 


Leith 


4,838 




25,447 




2,723 


Middle'^brouErli 


9,231 




4 
11 

6 
12 

1 

2 

3 

204 


4,869 

9,824 

7,248 

13,924 

42 

2,847 

275 

14,106 


76,927 


Southampton 


11,299 


Stockton . 


24,018 
25,123 




Whitbv 


6,028 




4,745 


Tyne port« 


91,915 




10,014 






Totals 1881 


351 

348 
395 
585 
703 


92,420 

57,480 

59,115 

141,165 

212,320 


486 
474 
412 
499 
389 


408,764 
346,361 
297,720 
287,080 
221,330 


945 

822 

807 

1,084 

1,092 


501,184 
403,841 


1880 


1879 


350 835 


1878 


428,245 


1877 


433,650 





Comparing and combining the Consul's figures with those of 
Dr. Siemens, President of the British Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science, with data of President GifFen, and of 
Lloyds, there appears the following increase in British Shipping, 
viz. : 

Years. Tonnage. Value. 

1850 4,326,000 £25,600,000 say $128,000,000 

1880 {I--. |;00|;«88 90,000,000| ;; 33,„„„_„„, 

1882 {ilr'}«''-^°'°°«{ 'Sooo} " «^«.2«0.°°° 

Consul Jones, Mr. Giffen, and all others, admit the wonderful 

increase without explanation — except by the annual drain of 

Shipwreck, and demand for foreign trade. 

The above valuation is at the rate of £15 per ton. There is 

inconsistency in this, as it runs over the price per ton of iron 

steam building. 

But taking an average of the cost of a number of vessels 

especially ordered, the cost per annum is £11 55., say, |57.50 

per ton, to the offer of Mr. Roach at §65 per ton. 



144 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

The Germania (British) cost £190,000, say, $950,000, of 5,004 
tons = $169 per ton. 

The "Tokio" (United States) cost $1,200,000, of 5,500 tons = 
$218 per ton. 

The "San Bias" cost $300,000, of 2,500 tons = $120 per ton. 

The following ships of the German ^hyy cost th.e enormous 
sums here given respectively : 

Kdnig Wilhelm $2,424,473 30 

Deutschland 1,961,227 10 

Kaiser 1,957,795 60 

Sachsen 1,857,227 00 

rriedrich der Grosse 1,738,213 25 

Freussen 1,675,067 10 

Bayern 1,649,420 70 

Friedrich Karl 1,535,884 45 

Kronprinz 1,498,619 60 " 

Hansa 729,568 00 

Total for ten years $17,007,496 10 

In addition to the above sums, there has been paid for repairing the Konig 
Wilhelm $465,993.35; Friedrich Karl, $539,091.40; Kronprinz, $290,827.65. 

To let our own builders speak for themselves of their willing- 
ness to make contracts for constructing iron ships in competition 
with British ship-builders we have the following : 

In response to an inquiry of the Hon. Mr. Dingley of your 
Committee, Mr. Koach, of Chester, replied '' that last week he 
had made a contract to build an iron vessel at $65 a ton." 

Is there a British ship-builder that will offer to build at a less 
rate than £12, even in competition, although many old craft can 
be purchased at almost any price, to be transferred, and especial 
bargains are frequently offered. When the cost is so close as to 
range from ten to even twenty per cent, only, it is to be accepted 
that American shipping is not declining on account of the cost 
of the building. 

Under the condition of Ship-building, the life of the ship must 
certainly be considered, the average period of service, the 
staunchness of condition after a long service, and also Ship- 
wrecking. 

In these respects American Shipping has a record unequaled 
even by Great Britain, as the following data indicates, although 
it is such a peculiarity of our people to accept any assertion or de- 
duction — hypothetical or problematical — presented from foreign 
sources and by foreign statists, that it is not surprising to see in 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 145 

our journals continually a depreciated estimate of our ships 
quoted fronn foreign authorship, and naturally biased against 
American rivalry.^ 

There cannot be higher authority than the Fellows of the Sta- 
tistical Society of England, but neither Mr. Glover nor Mr. 
Bourne, the best authorities upon Shipping, in the discussions 
of that society, have attempted to argue so hypothetically as some 
of our own writers and journalists copy from unauthenticated 
sources. 

The most accurate data obtainable as to shipwrecks show for 
the year 1881 a loss throughout the world, viz : 

IN"umber of ships. Persons lost. Value of property lost. 

2,039 4,134 $1,400,000,000 

This was an increase over 1880 of 359 ships and $500,000,000; 
over 1,050 of which ships were British. 

Here is a proportion of over 50 per cent, of the loss belonging 
to Graat Britain, while her percentage of the world's shipping is 
about 55 per cent.; hence, with all her superiority claimed and 
advantages acknowledged, her ratio of loss about equals her 
ratio of power in cqntrolling the world's trade. 

In speaking of the bad condition of several of the British ships 
in our ports, the New York Shipping Gazette recently remarked : 

"If the power was delegated to proper officials in this country 
to detain unseaworth}^ British vessels, these figures would be 
more than doubled, so far as steamers are concerned, and would 
include some of the "finest" that trade to our ports. Mr. Plim- 
soll should come over here and see the needs of a governmental 
supervision over some of his country ships." 

Regarding the record of American ships, it is possible to ana- 
lyze our " vital '* condition more thoroughly, as will be seen in 
the following record, which covers the three epochs of American 
Shipping: 

1 Since the preparation of this work the printed testimony of the Committee 
exhibits on page 247, as evidence, the following unjust quotation from the 
Contemporary Keview : 

" Statistics prove this. The ordinary life of a ship, allowing for extraordinary 
circumstances, is, in the United States, 18 years ; in France, 20; in Holland, 25; 
in Germany, 25; in Great Britain, 26; in Italy, 28; and in Norway, 30." 

This was a mere statement without evidence. 

There are no statistics whatever that can be produced to prove these ratios ; on 
the contrary, the facts are very different, as will be seen. 
10 H 



146 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



Ratio of Life of American Ships. 



Class. 


Name. 


Ton- 
nage. 


Built. 


< 


Record. 


Place. Date. 


Bark 


Amythept.(l) 

Empire State 

Senator 


1691 

1012 
1127 

1010 
1852 
1503 

1049 
1562 

1309 
1048 
1054 
1113 

1516 

1093 


Boston . 


1822 
1848 

1848 
1849 

1849 
1849 
1850 

1850 
1851 

18.52 
1852 
1853 
1853 

1853 

1853 


60 
34 

34 
33 

33 
33 
32 

32 
31 

30 
30 
29 
29 

29 

29 


Still in service. Pacific trade. (1) 
Still in service, Massachusetts 

coast. 
Still in 'service California coa'^t 






Steamer 


New York 




Plymouth Rock. 


Boston 


Still staunch and magnificent. 
New York harbor. 


Ship 

Ship 

Ship 

Ship 

Bark. 




Washington 

Tonawando 

Shirley 


New York 


Still in 'service NewYork harbor 


Philadelphia 

Massachusetts... 
New York 


Still in service, Philadelphia har- 
bor. 
Still in service, Pacific coast. 


Great Western.... 
Atlas 


Burned this j-ear, (June 28,1882,) 

California coast. (2) 
Still in service, Jersey coast. 
Still in service, Jerse}'- coast. 
Still in service. Pacific coast. 


Steamer 


New Jersey 

Wilmington 

New Hampshire 


Steamer .. 

Ship 

Ship 

Ship 

Steamer .. 


Rich'd Stockton 
Dashing Wave... 


Geo. Peabody 

Maryland 


Massachusetts... 
Wilmington 


bor. 
Still in service, Massachusetts 

coast. 
Still in service, Connecticut coast. 









STAUNCHNESS OF AMERICAN SHIPS. 

(1) Eecently sailed from San Francisco to Ipia, Navigator's Islands. Fo'r a long 
time after she was built she was run between Boston and Liverpool, and was con- 
sidered one of the fastest vessels of her day. For twenty-one years she was used 
as a whaler in the South seas. Her best run to Liverpool from Boston was made 
in fourteen days, and the round trip in thirty-two days. In 1878 she was brought 
to this coast and placed in the China trade. While in the China seas in 1878 she 
outrode a typhoon which was so severe that three American ships within a radius 
of sixty miles of her were lost. In 1881 she experienced another terrible typhoon, 
which necessitated an outlay of several thousand d(*llars in repairs when she ar- 
rived in this port. Her timbers and bolts were examined before her departure 
and found to be in a condition likely to last for many years to come. (New York 
Herald, June 80, 1882.) 

(2) She was one of the vessels of the Black Ball line, plying between New York 
and Liverpool. She was 1,800 tons register, and crowds have gathered around 
her at those ports, as she was considered a "big thing." She was twenty-nine 
years in the packet line, and made 116 trips without losing a member of her crew, 
a sail or spar. She is said to have carried 30,000 passengers at one time or another 
from Europe to American. Fifteen hundred births and two hundred marriages 
have occurred on board of her. Nine years ago she was brought out here and 
went into the coasting trade, and her good luck followed her until the morning of 
the 20th of June. She will soon be beached for her old iron. {New Fork Herald, 
Shipping Items. ) 

Here are fifteen American ships showins^ an average life of 
thirty-three years ! ! ! 

The Adriatic and Atlantic of the Collins' line of 1852-6 were 
sold abroad, but up to last accounts were, in hull and machinery, 
as firm as anything afloat. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 147 

The iron ships of our yards are not only models for Commercial 
and Naval service, but have proved themselves monarchs of the 
sea. (See also page 54.) 

A very large amount of smaller tonnage might be added to 
this exhibit, but the above ships were taken as a reasonable basis 
to ascertain the " ratio of life in sea service," in the diagram pre- 
pared in the argument of the writer before the Tariff Commis- 
sion. (See page 1696 of the Evidence thereof.)^ 

Let this record be written in golden letters before Shipping 
Investigating Committees ; before those agents of foreign ship- 
builders who are supported to hang around Congress and advo- 
cate "Free Ships " to the injury of American labor and American 
honor; before those — statesmen, individuals, and journalists — 
who are deceived by the wolf's cry that "Americans cannot build 
ships.'' 

" Free Ships " would rob the land-owner of the home market 
for his products, and the working man of his labor — it is a cun- 
ning device of foreign interests to buy the birthright of American 
Industry. 

(See also division of argument under " Booty.") 

^ A recent issue of the Nautical Gazette, of New York, presents a very forcible 

contrast to this record : 

"When an American steamship is worn out and unfit for service, she is towed to some out-of- 
the-way place and is broken up, or, if her hull is sound, she may be converted into a coal 
barge. " The Nautical Magazine, of London, not long ago said: 'And strange as it may seem, a 
ship going through the process of breaking up in a ship-breaker's yard, is a sight that may be 
indulged in after a lapse of some twenty years.' There is nothing 'strange ' in this, for the 
British underwriter pays for these old tubs, so that the owners have less trouble and get more 
money by selling them to the marine underwriters. It is many a long year since we heard of 
a British ship oeing 'broken up.' That would not pay. Now that there is no prospects of 
British owners selling their pot-metal coffins to the Yankees under a free-ship law, the chances 
are the underwriters will he obliged to buy up a lot of worthless trash called cheap ships." 

And again : 

" Of the 284 steam.ships lost in 1882 we have records of 222 of them which were built in 
British shipyards, and we have analyzed the list with a view of ascertaining the proportion of 
losses to each shipbuilding port, and the following is the result: 

"Sunderland, .38 lost, or an average of one in about every nine days. 

"Glasgow, 32 lost, or an average of one every ten days. 

" Newcastle, 28 lost, or an average of one every thirteen days. 

"Hull, 10 lost, a large percentage, considering the small number she builds." 



Recapitulation of Burdens upon the American Ship. 

(Official returns of the Commissioner of Customs.) 
HOME FEES EXACTED FROM AMERICAN SHIPS ONLY. 

Admeasurement charges under section 4186 Revised Statutes (1) $17,564 18 

Surveyors' fees under section 4186 Revised Statutes , 9,332 29 

Recording, &e., fees under sections 4192 and 4196 Revised Statutes... 6,285 25 

Crew lists and protections, sections 2174, 4573, and 4588 Revised Statutes 1,986 20 

Foreign entry and clearance fees under section 2654 Revised Statutes : 

-Entry $19,227 50 

Clearance 20,464 42 

39,691 92 

Coastwise entry and clearance fees under section 4381 Revised Statutes : 

Entry $35,828 95 

Clearance „ 35,578 84 

71,406 79 

Enrollment and license fees under section 4381 Revised Statutes 22,117 85 

Registry and indorsement fees under sections 4185 and 2654 Revised Statutes 5,659 92 

Miscellaneous fees under sections 2654 and 4381 Revised Statutes 235,347 68 

Tonnage tax under section 4219 Revised Statutes : (2) 

Sailing vessels $243,078 85 

Steam vessels 361,687 30 

279,766 15 

Shipping commissioners' fees under section 4612 Revised Statutes 58,914 35 

Marine hospital dues under sections 4585 and 4587 Revised Statutes 386,059 81 

Steamboat inspection fees and charges under section 4458 Revised Statutes : 

Inspection of steam vessels 167,629 21 

Licenses to masters, mates, pilots, and engineers 139,925 00 

Total $1,441,687 60 

CONSULAR FEES EXACTED IN FOREIGN PORTS. (3) 

Medical examinations of passengers and crews of vessels destined for United States, 

act of June 2, 1879 $2,228 25 

Fees exacted under section 1745 Revised Statutes, in accordance with tariff estab- 
lished by President, see Consular Regulations, pp. 165-172: 

Crews discharged 3,580 50 

Crews shipped 14,323 00 

Authenticating copies of notes of marine protests 225 00 

Extended marine protests 427 45 

Surveys of vessels, &c 659 50 

Letters 917 50 

Inventories •. 37 50 

Advertisements 36 00 

Accounts .of sales and other documents 130 80 

Authenticating signatures to reports of surveys 643 00 

Estimates of repairs 425 00 

Accounts of sales 90 00 

Other documents 832 94 

Certificates: 

Crew lists and shipping articles 2,027 55 

Desertions 1,030 75 

Deaths 59 50 

Protected American seamen 48 25 

Ownerships 608 50 

Advertisements on bottomry 14 00 

Sale of vessel, cargo, &c 719 25 

Deviation from voyage 786 50 

Canceling ships' registers 52 00 

Appointing master 118 50 

Consul's decision and award on conduct of crew, &c 162 98 

Tonnage dues 32,644 51 

Noting marine protest 2,988 56 

Extending marine protest 2,411 89 

Issuing warrants of surveys 1,097 45 

Recording documents 387 09 

Filing documents 380 99 

Letters to authorities ;. 7,267 85 

Seals and signatures to various papers (jurats) 14,401 42 

Orders to send or release men from prison 982 00 

Acknowledgments to various papers 355 13 

I)eclarations and oaths of masters 10,647 50 

Extra wages of seamen, received under sections 4580, 4581, and 4582 Revised Statutes 18,259 57 

Total in foreign ports 122,988 18 

Total in ports in the United States 1,441,037 60 

Total amount of Burdens, 1,564:,675 78. 

(1) For revised Admeasurement Law see heading Foreign Policies. 

(2) This amount represents the American ship's part of Tonnage given, page 67. 
<3) See "Consular Fees," page 74. 

Here is a treacherous tax of one-and-a-half millions on American Shipping. Shame 
on him who insidiously cries : " Subsidy for ships taxes the people !" (See Bounty.) 

(148) 



The Grand Orphan Asylum for Tramp Orphan Ships. 

NEW YORK HARBOR AND BULKHEAD 

SOLD OUT! TO FOREIGN AGENTS! 

Uncle Sam pays foreign Ships, but holds back his Ships to wait his pleasure — for nothing 
See Revised Statutes, Sees. 3976, 3987, 4009, 4203, and 4204. 




SUBSIDY AND SUBSERVIENCY TO FOREIGN SHIPS I 

American Mail Routes on the High Seas 

are as necessary as Land Routes, and for the education of seamen and defence in war 

as are our Public Schools, even though appropriation therefor may be called 

B O XJ r^ T Y I (149) 



SACRED 

TO THE 

MEMORY OF THE DEPARTED GLORY 

OF THE 

GREATEST SHIPYARD OF THE WORLD, 

MANHATTAN ISLAND. 



BETRAYED BY THE CONSPIRACY OF PROFESSED FRIENDSHIP 

AND 

SOLD OUT IN BULKHEAD TO FOREIGN CAPITAL, 

Together with the Graves*" and Monuments of the following 
Immortal Heroes of American Shipping Fame : 

1800 — 18 S5 ' 

CHARLES BROWNE. 
HENRY ECKFORD. CHRISTOPHER BERG. 

PICKET & THOMS. 
THORN & WILLIAMS. BROWN & BELL. 

HENRY STEERS. 
JAMES R. STEERS. GEORGE STEERS. HENRY STEERS, Jr.. 

ADAM BROWN. NOAH BROWN. 

THOMAS COLLYER. 
WESTERVELT & CONNOLLY. BISHOP & SIMONSON. SNEDEN & LAWRENCE. 

SMITH & DIMON. 
JOHN ENGLES. HERBERT LAWRENCE. STEPHEN SMITH. 

ISAAC WEBB. 



THE UNITED STATES, 

THE LAND FOR THE LABORER, THE HOME OF THE LABOR. 



(150) 



A 1>. _ 



BOUNTY 



By the term " bounty " it is here intended to imply that which 
is generally understood and accepted as " subsidy" by some who, 
from aftected delicacy in expression or willful perversion of the 
truth, slyly term " British Postages for Colonial service/' 
meaning in their shameful misrepresentation, " subsidy to British 
ships carrying the trade of the United States, China, Japan, and 
other subservient nations, commercially," a maritime monopoly 
of British statesmen in their far-sighted, liberal, and home policy. 

It is not intended nor desired in this argument to hide behind 
the cowardly pretext of calling this great subject by a sweeter or 
more euphonious term, in imitation of the British-American loby- 
ists who make their own terms obnoxious — for both the terms, 
^' subsidy " and " bounty " are purely of British coining and Par- 
limentary application to " grants " ft'om the British Exchequer — 
although applied in derision to the encouraging of American 
Industr}^ by the free-ship agents who have been advancing the 
interest of " the Ships o' Clyde," and confounding American 
statesmen with their pernicious theories until they have made 
our statutes a most kaleidioscopic mass of prejudicial laws 
against our own shipping, as shown in preceding pages, that any 
semi-barbarous people would be ashamed of and expunge. 

The American people are — at least we assume from our nat- 
ural pride that we are — an elegant and refined people, of delicate 
tastes and sensitive recognition of mellifluous sound, but we as- 
sume also to have the sense to understand that the man who 
is mean enough to shirk his personal or national duty because 
that dut}' is derided or termed " obnoxious subsidy " by a smart 
rival or agent, is mean enough to cowardly neglect his home and 
national interests, industry, and honor. Call it mail pa}^ call it 
subvention, call it by any name to suit the artful or the honest, 
the British or the American ship-owner. 

The term Bounty is here used, preferring to set aside the inter- 
ested motives of the foreign agent in crying '' subsidy," and the 
fastidiousness of the timid in chiming in the false cry of " taxa- 
tion." 

Although Bounty is properly sums of money paid as a " grant " 

(151) 



152 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



or ''in aid of" any purpose ; as we propose here to accept the 
term, in continuous acceptation for payment of ocean mail carry- 
ing, on the same conditions that payment is made to Railroads,. 
Postmasters, and Congressmen for services honestly rendered 
our country. In examining the exact condition of this element 
of shipping, we must consider 

Expenses, 
Earnings, 
Dividends, and 
Tribute. 

To look into the actual expenses of Shipping let us take as a 
basis the three largest corporations of Great Britain, conceding- 
that their supplies and general management in expenses are kept 
down in comparison with the small rate of interest, viz : Sj% per 
cent, average per annum. 

Expenses of the Principal British Steamship Companies ^ Compared^ 

1880. 



Company. 


Crews, Pro- 
visions, 
Coal, &e. 


Repairs. 


Insurance. 


other. 


Total. 


^ri<is/i— Peninsular & Oriental.. 
Pacific Steam Naviga- 
tion 


$4,111,000 

2,645,000 
1,857,000 


$1,250,000 

731,000 
454,000 


$1,740,000 

1,145,000 
438,000 


$2,231,000 

1,501,000 
790,000 


$9,332,00(>- 

- 6,022,000 
3,545,000' 


Royal Mail 





Here will be seen an expenditure of nearly $20,000,000 yearly 
by these steamship companies for labor, supplies, and insurance 
in England, for the benefit of British trade and development of 
British products. 

In looking at the other side of the balance sheet, we find the- 
secret and source from whence the means flow. 

Earnings of same Principal British Steamship Companies Compared. 

1880. 



Company. 


Passengers. 


Freight. 


Bounty. 


other. 


Total. 


British — Peninsular & Oriental- 
Pacific Steam Naviga- 
tion 


$2,963,000 

2,356,000 
1,371,000 


$4,876,000 

4,027,000 
1,079,000 


$2,415,000 

115,000 
490,000 


$95,000 
9,000 


$10,349,000' 

6,507,000 
3,540,000- 


Royal Mail 





1 Ofloicial figures of Mr. Giffen, Chief of Statistical Department, Great Britain.. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



153 



This is a most remarkable exhibit of deficiency to meet ex- 
penses, less the bounty or subsidy paid by special *' grant" from 
the British Exchequer, but its importance requires a special tabu- 
lation to exhibit the deduction properly. 

jRecapitidation of the conditions by the same British Shipping Com- 
panies for 1880 : 



Company. * 


Expenses. 


Earnings. 


Net 
Earnings. 


British — Peninsula and Oriental __ 


$9,132,000 
6,022,000 
3,545,000 


$10,347,000 
6,506,000 
3,540,000 


$1,215,000 

484,000 

(1) 5,000 


Pacific Steam 


Roval Mail 





(1) Loss. 

Here is seen the margin of profit — plus the subsidy from Gov- 
ernment, which is the only means of deriving a profit. 

It appears that the Royal Mail fully exhausts its earnings, 
and yet that company declares a handsome dividend. The secret 
of this remarkable result is found in the following general pro- 
vision in British Steamship contracts, viz., that: 

" Whenever the annual income of the company from all sources does not admit 
of the payment of a dividend of 8 per cent, on the capital employed, the subsidy 
shall be increased by so much— subject to a limit of £100,000 ($500,000)— as is 
required to make up such a dividend; and, on the other, that whenever the in- 
come is sufficient to allow a dividend exceeding 8 per cent, to be declared the 
company shall pay to the Postmaster General one-fourth of the excess." 

Thus in return of Dividend we find the following: 

Emdence of '^ Short Earnings^' being made " Long Dividends.'' 



Company. 



British. 

Peninsular and Oriental 

Royal Mail 

Pacific Steam 




c 


r:i 


•^ 


c^_, o 


o 


c ^ 




<D > 


o . 


^f^-s: 


o o 


C3^ 


'^ 00 


■^ rH 


■- GO 


S o 


>.'-' 


o >, 






3 


&B 


M 


s 


$2,415,000 


335 


490,000 


220 


115,000 





!« 3 o 
^ <a ^ 

§1.-1 
J -^ 



§1,690,000 
265,000 
No opposi- 
tion, a mo- 
nopoly. 



154 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

In this exhibit the fact is evident that there is far more than 
the rate of "payment for mail carrying" in the Bounty really paid 
by the experienced statesmen of Great Britain. It is for the 
development of trade, for the profit of the British people that 
these sums — and more, yearly- — are paid out in subsidy. 

The first law of the United States authorizing the payment of 
Ocean mail postage under President Jackson, was the following 
Act of Congress, July 2d, 1836. 

^^And be it further enacted. That the Postmaster General shall submit to Con- 
specific estimates of the suras of money expected to be required for the service of 
the Department, in the subsequent years * ■?«• ^ viz : compensation of post- 
masters, transportation of mails, ships, steamers, and way letters." * '^ 

The first efifort made in the United States to pay a Bounty to 
Mail Steamers, was in a message of President Tyler's, June 24, 
1842, forwarding to Congress oflicial correspondence between the 
Secretary of State, Daniel Webster, and the French Minister, 
urging the importance of " establishing a line of steamers, be- 
tween Havre and N"ew York, and according to a liberal system, the 
questions of either course to be arranged in common." 

Daniel Webster heartily recommended it; Postmaster General 
Wickliffe, in his report December, 1842, not only endorsed it, but 
says : 

" The Committee on Foreign Relations made a favorable report, 
and the House adopted the following resolution : 

" That the President be requested to cause to be prepared and 
report to this House, by the Secretaries of State and of the i^avy, 
at the commencement of the next session of Congress a plan for 
the establishment, and in concert with the Government of France, 
a line of weekly steamers between the ports of Havre and New 
York, together with the estimates of the expense which may be 
required to carry the said plan into efiTect." 

The outgrowth of these steps was the Act of March 3, 1845, 
authorizing that contracts be made for the building of Mail 
Steamships upon proposals to be called for, as follows : 

^' Be it enacted, (f-c, That the Postmaster General of the United States, be and 
is hereby authorized under the restrictions and provisions of the existing laws to 
contract for the transportation of the U. S. Mail between ports of the United 
States and a port or ports of any foreign power, whenever in his opinion the public 
interest will thereby be promoted, &c. 

^^And be it further enacted, That all such contracts shall be made with citizens 
of the United States, and the mail to be transported in American vessels by Amer- 
ican citizens." 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 155 

This wise move was not carried without fierce opposition from 
foreign emissaries endeavoring, as now, to interpolate neutraliz- 
ing terms or paragraphs in the drafts of and bills presented to 
Congress. 

But fortunately a wise and earnest (Southern) man was chair- 
man of the Committee of Naval Affairs, Hon. Thomas Butler 
Xing, of Georgia, a noble predecessor of those who now represent 
that great State. ^ 

This act was followed by a further act of March, 1847, upon 
which Ocean Mail contracts were made, as fully described by 
President Polk on pages -23-27. 

The following is a digest of the several laws made and unmade 
in behalf of Bounty for Ocean Mail Carrying, with a vacilla- 
tion and trifling on the part of Congress, unworthy of states- 
men, and in marked contrast, as will be seen, from the steady, 
wise, economic, and patriotic course of statesmen in England: 

Act July 2, 1836 Provision President Jackson. 

" March 3, 1845 Provision " Polk. 

" " 1847 Contract " 

" July 10, 1848 Provision under Sec. of Navy, &c. " " 

" March 3, 1851 Provisions under Postmaster 

General (regulating service) __ " Fillmore. 

'' July 21, 1852 Increased service, but limitation. " " 

*' " 5,1854 Restrictions " Pierce. 

•' March 3, 1855 Reduction " " 

" June 14, 1858 Abrogation of 10-year clause " Buchanan. 

*' October 1, 1859 Notice of complete abrogation __ " " 

•' June 15, 1860 " Privilege " for postage to Amer- 
ican Ships .__ " " 

" February 19, 1861 _ Temporary " " 

" May 28, 1864 Brazil Contract " Lincoln. 

^' February 17, 1865- _ China Contract " " 

*' " 18,1867 Provisions of service " Johnson. 

" March 2, 1867 Provisions of service " " 

" June 1, 1872 Contract increased to China '' Grant. 

1873 Abrogation complete, by Congress " " 

Under these several acts of Congress the following yearly 
payments were made, and are here presented in comparison with 
amounts paid yearly by Great Britain in more steady and 
bountiful support : 

^ It should be noted particularly here that from 1851 to 1855, when the strug- 
gle was again contested, in the endeavor to abrogate these contracts, that the 
leader in advancing this great political sagacity was also a Southern man, and from 
iin agricultural district; the Hon. Mr. Rusk, of Texas. 



156 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



Exhibit ofJBoiinties" or '^Subsidies'' paid by the Urdted States and 
Great Britain, comparatively, 1848-1882. 

(From Official Returns.) 



Years. 



Total amount 
paid by the 
TJ. S.i 



Am't paid ves- 
sels sailing un- 
der American 



Bounty or sub- 
sidy paid to 
foreign flag 
by the U. S> 



Bounty or sub- 
sidy paid Bri- 
tish ships by 
British Gov't.* 



1848 

1849 

1850 

1851 

1852 

1853 

1854 

1855 

1856 

1857 

1858 

1859 

1860 

1861 

1862 

1863 

1864 

1865 

1866 

1867 

1868 

1869 

1870 

1871 

1872 

1873 

1874 

1875 

1876 

1877 

1878 

1879 

1880 

1881 

1882 

Total 



$100,500 
285,086 
619,924 

1,465,818 



655,241 
880,273 
903,286 
,936,715 
766 
,589,153 
211,061 
204,569 
854,329 
806,885 
374,618 
416,075 
440,440 
475,428 
713,928 
867,203 
1,016,146 
1,101,689 
1,115,333 
975,025 
1,026,891 
1,044,157 
988,393 
976,644 
753,610 
448,896 
199,979 
200,026 
199,809 
240,067 
280,500 



$100,500 

235,080 

619,924 

1,465,818 

1,655,241 

1,880,273 

1,903,286 

1,936,715 

1,886,766 

1,589,153 

1,177,303 

1,079,220 

707,244 

570,952 

80,687 

79,398 

64,356 

66,571 

245,604 

411,065 

625,239 

757,963 

791,388 

799,662 

805,788 

815,400 

750,295 

740,361 

580,062 

286,834 

40,152 

41,251 

38,779 

42,553 

40,645 



$31,204,463 



$24,911,534 



$33,758 
125,349 
147,085 
235,933 
293,931 
336,677 
376,084 
408,857 
468,324 
456,138 
390,907 
343,726 
323,945 
175,463 
221,003 
225,757 
238,098 
236,283 
173,548 
162,062 
159,827 
158,775 
161,030 
197,514 
239,855 



$3,250,000 
3,180,000 
5,313,985 
5,330,000 
5,510,635- 
5,805,400 
5,950,953 
5,741,633 
5,713,860 
5,133,485 
4,679,415 
4,740,190 
4,349,760 
4,703,285 
4,105,353 
4,188,275 
4,503,050 
3,981,995 
4,227,018 
4,079,966 
4,047,586 
5,481,690 
6,107.761 
6,070,741 
5,693,500 
5,665,296 
5,697,346 
4,860,000 
4,420,261 

•3,674,580 
3,964,990 
3,768,230 
3,873,130 
3,601,350 
3,538,835 



$6,293,929 



American Bounty to British Ships 

Total British Bounty since 1848_. 
Total American Bounty 



163,653, 350 
6,293,920 



British Subsidy in excess of American since 1848 

Grant asked for in " Britisl;i Estimates," (p. 677,) for 188( 
$3,552,570. 



169,947,28^ 
24,911,534: 

$145,035,751 



^ From special official report by United States Postmaster General. 
2 Deductions from official figures, (United States Mail Pay.) 



3 From Parliamentary papers and ' 
including Mail Pay or " Postage rates 



Finance Accounts 
' to other lines. 



of Great Britain, not 



www 



THE DECLINE 



OF 



American Shipping. 

U. S. MAIL STEAMSHIPS REDUCED TO FREIGHT PACKETS 

BV THE 

FOREIGN COMPETITIONS AND CONGRESSIONAL NEGLECT. 




THE "PENNSYLVANIA." 

American Steamship Co., Philadelphia and Liverpool. 

BUILT BY WM. CRAMP'S SONS. 

In 1872 this line was established, with a large outlay of capital. There was no 
complaint about the cost of an American-built ship. (The owners preferred to 
build at home.) Nor has the expense been as great as would have been in 
repairs to a tramp ship — to be had cheap at the outset. It was found impossible, 
however, to run in competition with subsidized British lines as " fast mail steam- 
ships," necessitating the many extra and peculiar items of expense ; and hence 
their abandonment for such service by the clearing awaj" of cabins and their reduc- 
tion to " freiorhters." 



(157) 



158 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



BOUNTY 

Paid by the. United States Post Office Department to Foreign Steamships, 

1882. 

(From official Report, page 522.) 

TRANS- ATLANTIC. 

Europe. 

(1) By Cunard Line $34,214 14 

(1) By Hamburg Line 24,809 02 

(1) By Liverpool and Great Western Line 58,210 48 

(1) By North German Lloyd Line 37,796 20 

(1) By White Star Line 39,097 06 

(1) By Inman Line 28,043 53 

(1) By Anchor Line 5,023 25 

( 1 ) By Canadian Line 408 77 

(3) By American Line 3,233 16 

$230,835 61 

TRANS-PACIFIC. 

Asia. 

(2) By Pacific Mail Line |1,463 90 

(1) By Occidental and Oriental Line 3,1-14 21 

(2) Other 48 01 

4,626 12 

Australasia. 

(1) By Pacific Mail Line $11,301 34 

(2) Other 609 92 

11,911 26 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

(4) North and South America 30,141 26 

Total United States Post Office Ship payments $277,514 25 

To Foreign Ships §236,868 75 

To American Ships 40,645 50 



BOUNTY 

Paid {for past years) to Railroads and River Boats, compared tvith that paid to 

Steamships'. 



Lines. 


Miles per 
annum. 


Amount paid. 


Rate 
per mile. 


Railroads. 
Union Pacific . 


751,296 

640,640 

1,053,728 

7,488 
19,344 
19,344 
58,500 
32,040 

821,160 


$.351 ,000 
260,000 
306,340 

6,000 
10,000 

7,360 
50,000 
34,800 

12,765 


$0.46 
.40 


Central Pacific 




28 


Steamboats. 
Newport and Wickford R I .... 


80 




.52 


Galve'^ton to Libertyville Texas 


38 




.85 


Portland to Sitka Alaska 


1 08 


Steamships. 


.OVA 





(1) Foreign Flag. (2) American Flag. (3) Formerly "half and half"— now Foreign. 

(4) Mostly Coastwise American. 

(5) The United States pays about 3 cents per oz. for letters, and 1 cent per oz. for other matter, 
which barely pays for carting the mails to and from steamships. 

Kates established by " Postal Union," viz : 6 fcs. and 2 fcs. per kilogramme (2 lbs. 3 oz.) -= Sl.60 
per 4 lbs. oz., or 37 cents per lb. 



»^ 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 159 

But for the purpose of making a perfect comparison of the 
Bounty Conditions of the Shipping interests of the two coun- 
ries, we must also trace the full Bounty record of Great Britain. 

We have seen the evidence of Thomas Jefferson to this fact 
on page 18, but particulars thereof will be found fully detailed in 
Parliamentary papers as far back as 1770. 

Beginning with the Report of Commission of Revenue Inquiry 
of 1800, the following evidence will be found: 

"The attention of the commissioners of 'fees and gratuities' in the year 1788 
was drawn to the expenditure, which had been increased in the packet service 
during several years preceding their inquiry, and expenditure, according to their 
expression, 'so enormous as almost to surpass credibility,' the sum of $5,200,000, 
giving an annual expenditure (in a period of 17 years) of $305,000." 

Here is official British investigation and evidence of shipping subsidy by Eng- 
land, as follows : 

1770 to 1788 $5,200,000 

This continued until next examination by Committee of Finance, 
1797, which shows that instead of being stopped it was increased, 

averaging up to 1810 $392,200 yearly, or in all, 1788 to 1810 8,628,200 

This committee (1810) also increased the subsidy to $525,000 per year, 

and continued increasing until 1816, making total of 4,725,000 

After which it fell off for 3 years, 1817-1820 to 1,655,000 

The spirit of subsidy again rose from 1821 to 1830, and paid 5,855,000 

Making in the first 60 years a payment of $25,063,000 

It was at this time (1830) that the British commissioner of revenue 
made an especial investigation "for the purpose of inquiring into 
collection and management of the public revenue," and then began 
the heavy subsidizing, of steamships to over $500,000 per annum, 

as follows, viz: 1830 to 1837 6,000,000 

From General Post Office, 1837 to 1848 25,000,000 

From Mercantile Marine Fund, 1823 to 1847 37,500,000 

British subsidv paid from 1770 to 1847 $93,563,000 

British subsidy paid from 1848 to 1882, see page 108 163,653,000 

Total paid since 1770 $257,216,000 

Hence we see upon official authority that Great Britain pur- 
sued a determined policy to establish — and has for over a century 
(and still) maintained — a commercial and shipping supremacy, 
as wisely dictated by Lord Sheffield, viz., "the only advantage 
of the American and the West Indies Colonies is the monopoly of 
the consumption and the carriage of the product." 

Thus for the monopoly of the Booty there has been paid 
Bounty; and the Bounty has been, as above seen, sumptuously 
expended for a century, but with wise judgment and legislation. 

This system of Bounty and monopoly, and determination to 



160 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

make American Shipping pay Tribute to England, is shown in 
the following official report of Postmaster General Cave Johnson, 
and to which President Polk refers. (See page 24.) 

Extract from Report, December 6, 1847, upon the official mission 
of Asst. P. M. Hobbie, to England, to arrange a Postal treaty : 

"On his arrival at Southampton, on the 15th of June, 1847, Mr. 
Hobbie met a hostile movement of the English Government 
against the line of American Mail Steamers in a Post Office order is- 
sued the 9th of June, by the direction of the Lords of the Treas- 
ury. This order subjected all letters and newspapers conveyed 
by the (ship) Washington to England to the same charge of pos- 
tage as if they had been conveyed in the British Steamers at their 
own expense. The mails made up in this country for France and 
left at Southampton, to be forwarded to Havre, were subjected 
to the same charge and all were required to be sent to the Lon- 
don Post Office. It being his duty to proceed directly to Ger- 
many, Mr. Hobbie made a full communication to our Minister at 
London, and placed the matter under his immediate charge. 
Shortly afterwards he repaired, from Bremen to London and 
united with Mr. Bancroft^ in efforts to effect a withdrawal of the 
order of the 19th of June, and the adoption of a reciprocal postal 
arrangement between the two counties. The British Goverment 
presisting in their order, he returned to the continent and resumed 
the prosecution of his mail arrangements there. 

" The obnoxious order of the British Post Office of the 9th of 
June last discriminating against the American Steamers is not 
the only advantage which the British Government has taken of 
the United States as the laws of the two countries now stand. 
It is understood that by the laws of Great Britain, letters sent 
from the United States in transient vessels to Great Britain have 
a postage of eight pence or about sixteen cents to pay for delivery, 
termed the ship postage; whilst letters sent from England to 
the United States are charged only six cents when delivered at 
the office in which they are deposited, and but two cents when 
forwarded in the United States mails, in addition to the regular 
postage of the United States, 

" Letters mailed in the United States for France and sent through 
England, are charged, in addition to the sea postage, tenpence, 
equal to twenty cents, for transportation from Southampton to 
Havre, whilst upon letters from Great Britain to Canada, passing 
from Boston to St. Johns, a much greater distance, the United 
States only charge five cents, one-quarter of the amount charged 
on American letters passing through England. 

" In England the inland postage is much lower than in the 
United States, whilst the ship and transit postage on foreign let- 
ters is much greater. The sea postage between the two countries 

iSee Mr. Bancroft's official letter, passes 127-130. 



J^ l^ - X 1 . rj g 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 161 

is about the same (twenty-four cents) a rate in the opinion of the 
undersisrned much too hio^h for the interest and convenience of 
both countries. 

"In England it is understood that the foreign postages are by 
law under the control of the Lords of the Treasury, and may be 
changed as circumstances rendered necessary. A similar power 
should be given to the Postmaster General, or some other au- 
thority in the United States, so as to secure, if practicable, fair 
and just mail arrangements between this and foreign countries. 

To the President. " Cave Johnson." 

A caretul research through the State papers ot the several 
Executive Departments and Congressional classification, and into 
official dispatches of foreign relations, will trace testimony to the 
unwavering, monopolizing, commercial spirit of Great Britain, 
much to be admired in patriotic action and wise legislation. 

The " Tribute" we pay to Great Britain (especially) as Shipping 
Bounty to her Merchant Marine is not only through the Post Office 
Department, nor, indeed, in payments exhibited on pages 114-116. 

There is nothing so little understood, or rather so misunder- 
stood, as " Balance of Trade," which is far from having a superficial 
condition, but most eftectively marked in its powerful influence 
upon prosperity or adversity. 

The power of a ship-owmng nation is shown in the prosperity 
of Great Britain, notwithstanding her superabundance of im- 
ports over exports. 

The practical knowledge of Mr. Giften, the President of the 
British Board of Trade; of the Statistical Society and the chief 
of Statistical Departments of Great Britain, says, in his most val- 
uable paper before the Statistical Society, recently: 

" How much, to begin with, is annually due to us a ship-owning 
and carrying nation ? As we have seen, there is no reason why 
the actual excess of imports, in the case of a ship-owning nation, 
should correspond to the sum it earns in the carrying trade ; the 
actual excess may be less or more than that sum; but the sum is 
nevertheless an item in the account just as much as the so-called 
exports on the one side or the imports on the other." 

Here is the key that touches the commercial current of the 
world, and tells exactly the mode of receiving this collosal tribute, 
but without showing the vast power of that current by its actual 
working and results. 

The Commercial Letter of Secretary Evarts, page 44, of 1878, 
and page 131, of 1879, called attention to this vast subject as 

11 H 



162 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



one more worthy of Congressional investigation than any other. 
Secretary Frelinghuysen repeats the appeal, and while this Com- 
mittee is investigating this great Shipping condition it would not 
be labor lost to hear those words of Air. Gifien and then study 
the facts that are easily learned and understood by Mr. Giffen's 
clear exposition of this truth, although the exhibit thereof will 
necessarily be startling. 

Secretary Frelinghuysen shows, page 261 of his " Letter oq 
the Commerce of the World," of 1880 and 1881, the 

Imports and exports of the United Kingdom for ten years. 



Tears. 


Imports. 


Exports. 


Balance of trade 
against the 
United King- 
dom. 


1872 


$1,716,717,000 
1,804,455,000 
1,798,608,000 
1,817,348,000 
1,823,853,000 
1,916,880,000 
1,792,237,000 
1,764,141,000 
1,998,577,000 
1,929,529,000 


$1,528,697,000 
1,511,484,000 
1,446,579,000 
1,368,633,000 
1,247,931,000 
1.225,402,000 
1,193,052,000 
1,209,090,000 
1,391,972,000 
1,443,821,000 


$188,020,000 
292,971,000 


1873 


1874 


352,024,000 


1875 


448,715,000 


1876 

1877 _- _- 


575,922,000 
691,478,000 


1878 


599,185,000 


1879 _ __ 


555,051,000 


1880 .. 


606,605,000 


1881 


485,708,000 


Total 


118,863,340,000 


$13,566,661,000 


$4,795,679,000 


• 





Here will be seen, as Mr. Giffen tells you a tribute paid to his 
country of over five hundred million dollars per year, and in ten 
years of nearly ^i^a thousand million dollars, for carrying half of the 
commerce of the world in her ships. 

]N"o wonder English statesmen have paid the (comparatively) in- 
significant sum of two hundred million dollars in 100 years ! 

And yet American Congressmen stand up and pitifully cry about 
one two-hundreth part of that amount because they say it is '* taxing 
the people." 

" 'Tis pity!" it is a shame ! in so grand a work, so vast a ben- 
efit, so vital a necessity to the full development of a nation's re- 
sources, prosperity, and stability, that such narrow-mindedness or 
worse has governed and misgoverned our country for the last 
twenty-five years. 

But we have only seen the hundred of thousands of mil- 
lions that Mr. Giffen tells us his country has made in shipping 
bounty from all nations. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



163 



Let us now see what part of that Tribute we have paid to 
Great Britain. 



Tears. 


Imports from 
the U n i t e d 

States. 


Exports to the 
United States. 


Balance of trade 
in favor of the 
United States. 


1872 

1873 

1874 

1875 

1876 


§264.574,000 
347,349.000 
357.663.000 
338,207,000 
367,351.000 
378,234.000 
433,250.000 
446,235.000 
520,414,000 
501,591,000 


$222,195,000 

178,356,000 

156,033.000 

121,796.000 

97,897.000 

96.536.000 

85.206.000 

124;022.000 

184,456.000 

178,705,000 


$42,379,000 
168,993,000 
201.630,000 
216.411,000 
269,454,000 
281.698.000 


1877 


1878 

1879 

1880 

1881 


348,044;00O 
322,213.000 
335.058,000 
322,893,000 


Total 


r^o 954,868 000 


$1,445,202,000 


$2,509,673,000 







An excess of exports from our country to Great Britain, called 
" balance in favor," for which nothing returns, as shown on the 
preceding and following pages. 

What should the American people say of their statesmen who 
have thus taxed them over three hundred millions dollars per year, 
and in the last ten years two thousand jive hundred rnillion dollars ? 

What humbuggery to talk about " not taxing the people to sub- 
sidise — or lest it be offensive, to pay — mail-steamships." 

More than our War debt, have those statesmen taxed our people 
in ten years with their hypocrisy or ignorance I It is a commen- 
tary that is more than startling. 

But this is not all, let us consider these facts deeper. 

Mr. Giffen says, most logically and correctly, that — 

"The following propositions appear to cover the various cases 
of an excess of imports or exports arising in connection with 
carrying operations : 

" 1. A non-carrying nation, in the absence of borrowing or 
lending, ought to show in its accounts an equality between im- 
ports at the place of arrival, and exports at the place of depart- 
ure. 

'• 2. A nation carrying half its foreign trade ought to have an 
excess of imports equal to the cost of carrying the goods one 
way; and so in proportion for whatever its contribution to car- 
rying may be. 

" 3. A nation carrying its whole foreign trade will have an ex- 
cess of imports equal to the cost of carrying the goods both ways. 



164 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



"4. A nation carrying for others is entitled, in addition, to an 
excess of imports equal to the freight earned, less any expenses 
incurred abroad. Any nation contributing to carriage will also 
have something to receive." 

Nothing could be more truthfully presented, more ably or 
eloquently deduced; and yet we, as Americans, are in a worse 
plight even than Mr. Giffen depicts, for we not only have sent 
away in the last ten years, twenty-five hundred million dollars' 
worth of products, and, as will be seen by the table (on page 115), 
paid an additional fifteen hundred millions for actual carriage, 
but also a cash balance for taking our products away from us, as 
wdll be found on page 293 of Letter of Secretary of State, viz. : 

Gold and Silver Coin and Bullion Imports and Exports into and from 
the United Kingdom. 





Imports from 
the United 
States. 


Exports 

to the 

United States. 


Balance. 


Years. 


Against the 
United States. 


In favor of the 
United States. 


1872_- 


$62,252,000 
44,365,000 
38,649,000 
55,364,000 
34,063,000 
22,734,000 
12,063,000 
14,502,000 
6,094,000 
12,738,000 

$302,824,000 




$62,252,000 
32,657,000 
38,483,000 
32,141,000 
15,096,000 
15,526,000 
2,773,000 




1873. - 


$11,708,000 

166,000 

3,223,000 

18,967,000 

7,108,000 

9,290,000 

36,756,000 

26,949,000 

36,051,000 




1874___ _ - 




1875.. - — _ 




1876 - __ 




1877 




1878 




1879 


$22,254,000 
20,855,000 


1880 




1881 




23,313,000 








Total 


$150,218,000 


$198,928,000 


$66,422,000 



Showing a balance of specie, also, against the United States of $132,506,000. 



Another Tribute paid by the American people " as a non-carrying 
nation " (I apply Mr. Giffen's words) to those who bind us hand 
and foot commercially. Over one hundred and thirty millions in 
hard gold and silver additional balance against us in ten 3'ears. 

Let no more be said, then, about " taxing;" in objection to the 
consideration of shipping bills. 

Political precept is but froth unless emanating from a dis- 
ciplined and unbiased mind, trained by research into the non- 
apparent as- well as the apparent causes of results. 



See also page 102. 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 



165 



Let us look, then, into the carrying or non-carrying conditions 
of the principal JSTations by the world to learn our own compara- 
tive conditions and see the insignilicant relation we bear, to-day, 
even to the weakest. 



Carrying Trade of the Principal Commercial Nations} 
1882. 

Per 
Nations. Tonnage. . Remarks. 

Austria- 
Austrian 4,000 000 90 Now building up her Merchant Marine by lib- 
Foreign 500^000 10 eral Bounty. 

Belgium — Carried mostly in British Ships, although be- 

Beieiau 800,000 20 coming aroused. 

Foreign 3,200,000 80 

France— By new Bounty law France has largely in- 
French 3,600,000 30 "creased her carrying trade. 

Foreign 8,700,000 70 

Germany — Even this condition has aroused the German 

Ge'^rman 3,000,000 40 people, and liberal action has been taken, 

Foreign 5,400,000 GO (See Foreign Policy, following pages.) 

Holland — Subsidized slightl j', but dependent upon Great 

Dutch 1,000,000 30 Britain since 1800. 

Foreign 1,000,000 70 

Italy — . See under Foreign Policies for recent Bounty 

Italian 1,-500,000 35 provision. 

Foreign 2,700,000 G5 

Norwav — Sailing trade merely. 

Norwegian 1,500,000 75 

Foreign 500,000 25 

Russia — Reviving her Merchant Marine by recent iib- 

Russian 2,100,000 30 eral policy. 

Foreign 5,000,000 70 

United Kingdon — Thus, while carrying 55 per cent, of the world's 

British 21,000,000 70 trade, British ships carry 70 per cent, of home 

Foreign 9,000,000 30 trade. 

United States — Given over to the Booty of Foreign Nations, 

America 2,000,000 85 (See foregoing and following pages.) 

Foreign 13,000,000 15 

Here we are forced to look upon the humiliating evidence that 
is worse than ordinary, more than alarming; it is absolute 
dependence and subserviency — almost irremediable ! 

Our country here presents the smallest percentage of home carrying 
tonnage in comparison with all of the -principal countries of the world! ! ! 

And for this (can it be denied?) we are indebted very much to 
the vascillating mind of Congress in altering good laws for 

1 These data are prepared from latest official returns of each country. 



166 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

trivial objections, and the nearsightedness or prejudices of our 
statesmen. 

By study and research there will be found two peculiarities 
most distinct and characteristic, viz : the obscurity of the real 
politico-economic policy of Great Britain through her Board of 
Trade department representing her commerce, her Board oi 
Admiralty representing her shipping, and her special commis- 
sions with their digest of references to pages for hidden evidences 
that only a practical and determined researcher could reach ; 
while in our country the unbosomed confidence in verdant utter- 
ances of our statesmen in Congress are the beginning and the 
end of an economic policy. 

The above trace of our Post Office contracts prove this fickle- 
ness, this absence of policy, this want of foresight, since the days 
of Charles Wickliffe and Cave Johnson. 

Transfer our shipping contracts and our merchantile shipping 
entire to a Bureau of Commerce, under the I^avy Department, 
where it belongs, and where it will be protected (for the Post 
Office Department has expended its energies and talent upon ex- 
pediting land routes, subsidizing foreign steamships, and neglect- 
i'ng American postal rights) by statutes that shall stand for the 
transportation of American mail in American ships, under 
American officers, and the American flag. 

Since the above went to press the following clear, unanswerable remarks of 
Senator Vest were made in debate upon the Senate floor. It is all that is asked — 
all that is needed — and yet denied ! (See pages 119, 120.) 

Mr. Vest. Mr. President, the Senator from Delaware [Mr. Bayard] has characterized the pro- 
posed section which provides for the payment of ocean postage as a subsidy. I desire simply 
to say that I have never voted for a subsidy ; that I never propose to vote for one ; and I want 
the Senator from Delaware to make good his assertion that this is a subsidy. The pos- 
tage which is paid on the inland routes of the United States has no assailants ; it is con- 
ceded to be just and proper. The special committee on shipping unanimously reported that 
the same principle should apply to the ocean routes. I ask tne Senator from Delaware if he 
does not think that principle to be correct and just? 

Under the laws of the United States as they now exist, a steamship which carries the mails of 
the United States 5,000 miles receives two cents for every letter; and the proof before the 
special committee, of which I was a member, was that the expenses of carrying the mails from 
the steamships in San Francisco up to the office of the Consul at that port exceeded the total 
amount of the postage received by the line in carrying the letter for 3,000 miles. Does the 
Senator from Delaware say that that is right? Is there a Senator upon this floor who will stand 
here to-day in his place and say that is just or proper ? 

I have no connection with any mail line whatever. I have not the slightest connection with 
Mr. John Roach, with the Northern Pacific Line, or any other line. I do not know a stock- 
holder. I do not know an officer. I simply, as a member of tlie committee, have recom- 
mended that the same sort of postage should be paid upon the ocean routes as is paid upon 
the inland routes of the United States. Is there any Senator here who will stand in his place 
and say that this principle is not correct ? I pause ifor a reply. If the Senator from Delaware 
will say now that the same prineiple should not apply upon the ocean as upon the land, I want 
him to say it. 



^'FUEE SHIPS!'' 

LABOR STRUCK DOWN ! 

" Clyde Shipwrights wanted on 9 day's notice." 

" No American Seamen nor Shipwrights need apply." 

Shall the Birthright of American Industry be sold out ? 

The Q,uestiou of" the Campaign in 1884. 




AVoRKMEN OF AMERICA — of ALL Industries — will you submit to 

your Congressmen giving away your Honest Labor 

and American Honor, to 

The Demand of Foreign Capitalists 

FOR 

FOIlEIG:Nr BOOTY P 

(167) 



COMBINATION AND SPOLIATION. 



A Chain of Influences Beneath the Surface that Entangles the Blades 
of the American Ship. 



BEITISH LLOYDS. BOARD OF ADMIRALTY. 

PARTIAL KATES— PKOTECTIVE AGENTS. 

HOME PEOTECTION. WISE FOEESIGHT. 

MERCANTILE MARINE FUND. 

BRITISH EXCHEQUER. 

BOUNTY. ADDITIONAL GUAEANTY. 

SUPERVISION. PEOYISION. 



U. S. Consul Jones writes to the Department of State from Newcastle-on-Tyne^ 

September 30, 1882 : 

"The local marine office at London pays out £10,000 per month ($600,000 per year) in salaries. 
The wages paid to British seamen during 1881 amounted to £10,000,000 ($50,000,000,) and the 
premiums paid on marine insurance during the same year are stated at £10,000,000 ($50,000,000.)' 
Look whither we will, and the beneficial influence of shipping is patent; and it is a growing in- 
fluence, already exceeding in capital invested the mines and iron works of the kingdom com- 
bined, and only excelled in this regard by agriculture and railways." 

Here is evidence in an official report of the vast power of the Lloyds. The- 
total annual insurance amounts to $200,000,000. 

It was the great disparagement of this influence ia the ports of China and 
Japan that prejudiced shippers against the great ships of our Pacific Mail — the 
"Peking" and "Tokio"-in 1874 and 1875.1 

But Consul Jones proves even more forcibly this influence, viz : 

" If we estimate the number of British steamers at 7,500, and the average consumption of 
coal at sixteen tons during three hundred days a year, we have an annual consumption of fuel 
by these ocean carriers, chiefly British coal, amounting to 36,000,000 tons. Shipping creates a 

freat demand for iron and steel in their various forms and qualiHes, as well as for engines and 
oilers, chains and anchors, sails and ropes, for every variety of hardware, crockery and glass- 
ware, and for upholstery and carpets, beds and bedding, electric appliances and telephones. 
Employment is afforded directly and indirectly to an army of men and women of every social 
grade and intellectual caliber, from the wealthy ship-builder, with his estate in the midlands- 
and his seat in Parliament, to the hard-worked puddler at the furnace. Docks have to be con- 
structed and maintained to accommodate shipping. 

"Insurance companies and clubs give employment to thousands; government officers, cus- 
toms employes, surveyors, savings-bank clerks, stevedores, and manj'- more derive their liveli- 
hood from the traffic of shipping. 

" Men and boys in the British mercantile navy during 1880 numbered 190,380." 

U. S. Consul Morey, of Ceylon, writes to the Department of State, as follows : 

"To mj^ knowledge, for a period of twelve years, and in a great measure even to the present' 
day, beautiful and staunch American vessels have been unemployed in foreign ports, or ac- 
cepted of freights too low to much more than pay expenses, while crank old foreign craft, just- 
at the tail end of a high class, and prone to damaging their cargoes, have loaded for the United 
States at high rates, with cargo bought with American money on American orders, and simply 
on the plea that, being classed at Lloyds, the rates of insurance were largely in their favor. 

"How much our own mt-rchants were to blame for this, inasmuch as they allowed their goods 
to be insured in foreign offices instead of their own, I am not prepared to say, but I do know 
that as soon as invoices began to contain the clause ^Insurance provided for in America' our ships 
were sorrj*2times able to pick up some of these freights." 

This official evidence is given in detail to prove the necessity of creating a 
chain of financial agencies abroad for the benefit of American Shipping. 

The British Lloyds is a system of mutual insurance between themselves, to 
arrange for the mutual protection of their ships and cargoes, or shares thereof, 
" pooling " gains and losses pro rata. 

" Only members of Lloyds are allowed the benefits, protection, and information furnished, 
daily by agents appointed for the purpose, and there is scarcely a port of consequence in the 
world where one is not stationed. British consuls are allowed to serve as {these) agents,' also 'for 
(British) navifjation covipanies.' " 

^The writer is personally aware of the injury thus effected, and of the unjust 
action in rivalry against these ships, the superiority of which is now acknowl- 
edged. 

(168) 



BOOTY. 



Whether the motive that prompts the advice to try " Free 
Ships " springs from a deep and sincere interest in the vivification 
of this child of American industry, the American ship; 

Whether the comprehension of the disquisitive writer who so 
copiousl}' amplifies the theor}^ of prostituting American Indus- 
try to foreign spoliation is restricted by mere superficial ideas ; 

Whether the bleak, mercenary heart of the aggrandizing mer- 
chant cares not that this noble offspring of American genius be 
called or treated as an " orphan ; " 

Whether the crank spirit or diseased mind of the illogical pro- 
fessor honestly believes or dreams that his visionary principles 
should be the economic laws of the day ; 

Whether the treacherous agent who once coped industriously 
and honorably in international maritime contests has become 
faint-hearted, and now turns against American Industry and 
honor for selfish motives ; 

Whether either or all of these influences cause the rallying 
around the Chambers of Congress whenever " a bill for the re- 
vival of American Shipping " is presented, and that animates 
hira, who may be, for good reasons, selected spokesman, to rush 
into the House of Representatives and cry — 

"Mr. Speaker, I object ; I do not know the motion, but I understand it is for 
the revival of shipping, and I object." (See Congressional Eecord, 1881.) 

Whether or not all of these considerations are pure or subsi- 
dized, the actual result is Booty! 

Booty to British shipbuilders, merchants, and insurers — and 
American ruin. 

Booty to British workingmen, and idleness at home. 

Booty to British suppliers, and a loss to our own farmers. 

Booty to foreign seamen, agents, clerks, laborers, &c., and 
stagnation of business and want to the needy at home. 

It means the spoliation of every industry ; the strangling of 
every honorable emotion of pride ; the closing of every navy yard 
and of everj^ ship yard of the United States. 

It means a crown of gold for the head so long employed to 
confuse American legislation, and to destroy American industry. 

(169) 



170 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

It means dependence in the hour of need and of embarrass- 
ment ; obsequious at the moment that we are bullied by a fourth- 
class power. 

Washington submitted his opinion of Free Ships, (see page 40,) 
and Jefferson said that : 

" The carnage of our own commodities^ if once established in another 
channel^ cannot be resumed in the moment we desire. 

" If we lose the seamen and artists whom it now employs, we lose the 
present means of marine defense, and time will be requisite to raise up 
others, ichen disgrace or losses shall bring home to our feelings the evils 
of having abandoned them.'' 

We have lost our carrying trade, and it is hard indeed to re- 
claim. 

New York is again held by foreign power in the freehold right 
to our bulkhead, the command of our harbor and the. patronage 
of our daily press. 



FREE SHIPS. 

Why ? and what then ? A panacea for impotency in shipping? 
for our humiliation in this industry, our insignificant relation to 
other nations on the high seas ? Why should we brand our national 
and industrial record, by enacting a law for creating foundling hos- 
pitals for foreign ships to be fraudulently branded American T 
Why must we try this visionary resort in commercial strategy ? 
Why should we make a confession to the world of barrenness in 
an Industry in which we can surpass the world? Because it can 
only be done by appropriation called Bounty or Subsidy ? ]S"o. 

The American people are not such fools. It is a libel upon the 
common sense of our 50,000,000 of people; it is the fulsome and 
deceitful prayings of interested parties misrepresenting in every 
way the truths. 

Our people, although formerly deceived and many now in doubt, 
are fast recognizing the fact that " no nation that buys its ships 
of foreign manufacture was ever successful " ! ! ! 

From whence cometh this clamor for an adopted child ? It 
comes, and comes only, (originally) from parties or men who have 
a trade that would be injured by American ships in competition. 

If ships of foreign Industry were privileged as our own to-day, 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 171 

and numbers presented to our shipper free — absolutely free — how 
how could they be self su stain ins^? How improve our shipping 
condition when our own cannot be supported; what would it ac- 
■complish but greater humiliation to ourselves, and disgrace to our 
flag. 



FOREIGN LOBBY. 

The most vicious enemy to our Shipping is the plausible repre- 
sentation of foreign shippers, shipbuilders, and underwriters. 

It would not be politic for foreign capital to be represented by 
foreign accent in pleading tones, or by foreign gesticulation in 
thundering theories, at the doors of Congress ! 

For a delicate task a delicate hand and tongue are essential. 

Macgregor and McCulloch tell us frankly that British states- 
men learned in our Colonial history that diplomacy is a stronger 
Aveapon against our trade than warfare. 

The soft, sweet lyre of British persuasion in the hands of adepts, 
of American birth, education, and refinement, is illustrated in the 
foregoing, and the result is a powerful influence at the door of 
our American Congress. 

They are there ! the foreign agents; they are at public meetings; 
they are wielding the influence of many of our daily journals ; 
wolves in sheep's clothing; Americans only by birth, they are 
handsomely supported permanently in this permanent employ- 
ment to w^atch ! and report every movement, every action, in our 
shipping conditions, and of our shipping legi,slation. 

When our country was disturbed by civil strife, and ever since, 
these agents under the disguised cloak of loyalty, have been paid 
to misrepresent, undermine, and destroy the zealous advocate 
of American shipbuilding. 



SHIP REPAIRING. 



Between ship building and repairing there is a wide difference 
in condition and necessarily in interest. 

Ship building in the United States naturally draws the repair- 



172 HISTORY OF AMERICA!? SHIPPING. 

iug of ships to their respective home yards, and proportionately 
decreases the volume of labor and profit of results from the pre- 
sent custom from foreign ships that require repair in our ports. 

!N"ow as these two interests are thus somewhat antasronistic^ 
and yet both American, it is necessary, although embarrassing,, 
to judge between the two; and hence the question, which branch 
is most essential to our national interests ? 

At present, as the vast bulk of shipping in our ports is foreign^ 
the ship-repairing interest have the most patronage and therefore 
can show large results and interests at stake — consequently a 
strong influence underlies this valuable industry. 

But change the conditions of our shipping from foreign to- 
American, and how vastly greater would be the benefit to our 
own labor, to the development of our own product in iron, cop- 
per, and all component parts and supplies, to the general diffusion 
of capital and particularly to the general patronage in our own 
and employment of our own needy. 

This is a feature needing careful study. It appears a powerful 
argument for foreign and indeed for free ships, but let it be 
weighed well in unbiassed consideration before a hasty rendition 
of favor against building our own Ships. 



INCONSISTENCY OF ACTION TOWARDS OUR SHIPPING. 

No greater evil, actually, towards American Shipping, in de- 
stroying direct American trade, in drawing the trade of Eastern 
Africa, India, and the Asiatic Settlements to London, contributing- 
to the monopoly of British ships and to the transportation of the 
world's traffic across the Island of Great Britain ; of being im- 
properly invoiced, entered, branded, and re-exported, has ever 
been perpetrated than the elimination of the following section 
from our Revised Statutes : 

An Act to repeal the discriminating duties on goods produced east of the Cape of 

Good Hope. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That Section two 
thousand Jive hundred and one of the Revised Statutes of the United 
States which reads as follows : 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 173 

'* There shall be levied, collected, and paid on all goods, wares, 
and merchandise of the growth or produce of the countries east 
of the Cape of Good Hope (except wool, raw cotton, and raw 
silk, as reeled from the cocoon, or not farther advanced than 
tram, thrown, or organzine,) when imported from places w^est of 
the Cape of Good Plope, a duty often per centum ad valorem in 
addition to the duties imposed on any such article when im- 
ported directly from the place or places of their growth or pro- 
duction," be and the same is hereby repealed from and after the 
iirst day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty-three. 

, Approved, May 4, 1882. 

The confusion already peculiar to the returns of our trade 
with foreign countries is a perplexity and mortification. With 
the above aid and sanction, and giving away our commercial 
identity — for it is such to us — is an incomprehensible blunder.^ 

Reference to American records will show the numerous peti- 
tions, made in the early days of our country's history, for the 
creation of this law. It was a protection from the monopoly of 
the " East India Company," and now its repeal is the jobbery of 
a monopoly that controls the trade of the East Indian Settle- 
ments. 

Consul Eckstein, of Amsterdam, in Consular Report No. 27, 
exposes this fact by showing the corner made in Sumatra 
tobacco by this 10 per cent, relief to indirect traders, and hence 
increase competition to American tobacco by 10 per cent, reduc- 
tion of foreign staple. It operates similarly on all United States 
products and trade. He writes : 

" The recent animation in this trade has undoubtedly furthermore been stimu- 
lated by the removal of the 10 per cent, discriminating duty, fomerly payable 
thereon, being a product of the East Indies, exported from the west of the Cape 
of Good Hope. 

" This will be clearly evident when I state that many shipments, aggregating 
large quantities of this tobacco, purchased or ordered for months last past, were 
purposely delayed until late in December, so as not to arrive until after the law 
abolishing the discriminating duty had gone into effect, 

" This unlooked-for introduction and now so considerable export of this staple 
into the United States has begun to be viewed with great disfavor by cultivators 
or growers of ' seed-leaf tobacco in the United States. 

" They apprehend, as I am informed, that the imports of Sumatra tobacco into 
our country will increase still further in the near future, and seem to consider 
this would prove greatly detrimental to their interests." 

^ See Commercial Letter Secretary Frelinghuysen, just published, (page 361 
especially,) for abundance of evidence on this point. 



174 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

MAIL VS. PACKET STEAMSHIPS. 

The great hue and cry so often heard about injustice to packet 
lines by granting subsidies to fast mail steamships is suggestive 
of the old fable of the crawling animal that could not possibly 
consume the food of another nature, but possessed a disposition 
to interrupt. 

How could the slow packet be entitled to mail pay ? Besides, 
the packet enjoys means of profit that are not peculiar or possible 
to the steamships, viz : 

Less cost in construction. 

Less cost in equipment. 

Less cost in operating. 

Less cost in coal (if steam packets.) 

Less cost in repairs. 

Less cost for officers and men. 

In view of the many discriminations between the two, is not 
the idea that each should receive governmental assistance absurd ? 

Dispatch, regularity and particularly intelligence (more general 
with the crews of steamships) form the foundation for successful 
Ocean Mail Service ; and the work once begun, new fields are 
opened and new labor for others created, whether in harmony or 
competition. 

Rapid transit is essential for the Mails, but steam speed involves 
a heavy cost to the steamship owner, and as cheap tarifi* of freights 
is the first consideration to shippers, rather than speed, it is 
natural that slower vessels (whether of sail or steam) have re- 
ceived and always will receive better patronage than fast mail steamships. 

But a packet line always receives aid from a mail line; it is 
impossible otherwise, as the mail ship opens communication, de- 
velops trade, and necessarily increases that bulk of products 
that go slowly by packet. 

The spirit that pervades the following diplomatic letter in be- 
half of our ocean mail, argued so fairly and perfectly the in- 
fluences that Booty should inconvenience relations between na- 
tions that is appropriate here : 

Letter of the Honorable George Bancroft. 

" The undersigned Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipo- 
tentiary of the IJnited States of America, had the honor on the 
12th of July last, and more fully on the 16th of August last, to 
make overtures to Viscount Palmerston, Her Majesty's Principal 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 175 

Secretary of State for Foreign Aftairs, for a postal arrangement 
between the United States and the United Kingdom. * * 

" The free intercourse b}^ letter between more than Fifty Mil- 
lions of people, whose mother tongue is the English, and of whom 
nearh^ one-half dwell on the Western side of the Atlantic, is of 
such moment to general commerce, international friendship, pri- 
vate affection, and to the condition and prospects of the cultivated 
world that even a temporary restriction of that freedom may 
well demand the serious attention of all who desire to cherish re- 
lations of amity between kindred nations. 

" It is therefore with deep regret that the undersigned feels him- 
self compelled to protest against the Post Office order in question. 

" 1st. As the act of a dej^artment of Her Majesty's Government 
without the w^arrant of a British statute. * * 

" 2d. But even if the letter of the Act of 3d and 4th Victoria, 
Chap. 96, should seem to authorize the imposition of a discrimi- 
nating postage, the undersigned would still protest against the 
Post Office order in question, as of a most unfriendly character, con- 
trary to those principles of perfect reciprocity which should gov- 
ern the postal arrangements between the two countries. Lord 
Palmerston is well aware that the act alluded to is not mandatory 
but that a discretion rests with the Lords of the Treasury or any 
three of them, with regard to its application. The Post Office 
order to which the undersigned has already called the attention 
of Her Majesty's Government, assumes therefore the character of 
an executive act not required by law. 

"The degree of unfriendliness that has been manifested will 
appear from comparing the rates charged on the American mails 
brought in the American packet to Southampton, and forwarded 
from Southampton to Havre, with those which the British Gov- 
ernment asked and accepted from the American Government for 
the conveyance from Boston to St. Johns, in Canada, of their 
closed mails brought in British packets to Boston. A special 
express conveyance for the sole purpose of transporting that mail 
was established by the American Government, and nothing more 
than a rate of two-pence half-penny, for the single letter of half 
an ounce, or about six-pence the ounce, net weight, was demanded 
for a mail thus exclusively instituted for that service, and the 
British Post Office, for conveying the American closed mails from 
Southampton to the French shore, a distance less than half as 
^reat as the distance from Boston to St. Johns, with no unusual 
speed, and in the least expensive manner, exacts four francs, or 
nearly seven-fold the sum paid to America for more than twice 
the service. 

"3d. The undersigned further protests against the Post Office 
order in question, not only as illegal and unfriendly, but also as 
unprecedented. It is true, Lord Palmerston explains, ' that the 
United States is not the only country to which the above-men- 



176 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

tioned act has been so applied; but that, on the contrary, the 
regulation by which packet postage is charged upon letters and 
newspapers conveyed by foreign packets has been invariably 
acted upon in regard to letters conveyed by the mail packets of 
all foreign countries.' Now, there are but two nations besides 
the United States which convey letters to the Island by their own 
mail packets, viz: France and Belgium. 'All foreign countries' 
referred to by Lord Palmerston can therefore be only France, 
Belgium, and America. Has ' the above-mentioned act ' ever 
been ' so applied ' to the mail packets of France ? When and 
where was it ' so applied?' When and where was double post- 
age levied on a French mail packet? The undersigned has not, 
by diligent inquiry, been able to discover that the above-men- 
tioned rate was ever ' so applied ' to the mail packets of France. 

"Or is it to Belgium that the above-mentioned act was ' so 
applied ?' It may be that once on a line of mail packets of Bel- 
gium, what Lord Palmerston calls the ordinary rates of ship 
letter-postage may have been levied through mistake, because 
the boats were not taken to be mail packets; but if so, the error 
committed was readily acknowledged and rectified. But Lord 
Palmerston insists ' that the rates of packet postage, and not the 
ordinary rates of ship letter-postage,' are chargeable upon letters 
conveyed by the American Government packets under the act 
above mentioned, and Lord Palmerston proceeds to say that ' the 
last occasion on which this regulation was so applied happened in 
1844, when the Belgian Government, having established packets 
to run twice a week between Dover and Ostend, letters conveyed 
by those packets were ordered to be charged with precisely the 
same rates of postage which are chargeable upon letters conveyed 
by British mail packets.' 

"The statement is made by Lord Palmerston with great pre- 
cision, but the undersigned, in reply to his inquiries in respect to 
it, is informed that ' the Belgian packet boats did not begin to 
ply between Ostend and Dover till the month of March, 1846, 
and that no difference has ever arisen between the two countries 
in reference to letters transported by the packet boats.' 

" Besides, Her Majesty's Postmaster General has himself in- 
formed the undersigned that the Post Oflice order in question is 
a novel application of the rates established eight years since. 

"And the undersigned begs Lord Palmerston to believe that as 
Her Majesty's Government has never imposed double postage, 
to the injury of any nation but the United States, so the Post 
Office order in question stands in striking contrast with the wel- 
come given to American letters from American packet-boats by 
other nations of Europe. 

"4th. The undersigned further protests against the order in 
question as inconsistent with the spirit of the convention of 3d 
of July, 1815, to ' regulate the commerce between the territories 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 177 

of the United States and of Her Britannic Majesty,' which 
convention provides that ' no higher or other duties or charges 
shall be imposed in the ports of any of his Britannic Majesty's 
territories in Europe on the vessels of the United States than 
shall be payable in the same ports on British vessels'; and 
further, that the ' citizens of the United States shall pay no 
higher or other duties or charges on the importation or exporta- 
tion of the cargoes of the said vessels than shall be payable on 
the same articles, when imported or exported in the vessels of 
the most favored European nations.' :i^ ^ ^ 

" The undersigned, notwithstanding his former notes to Lord 
Palmerston on this subject, has failed to obtain redress — could 
not loitness the continued exaction of double postage on letters conveyed 
by American steamers without entering his protest} 

'^Meantime he is ever ready to contribute his efforts towards 
completing, without delay, with Her Majesty's Government, a 
postal arrangement which shall place the mail service of the two 
countries on the footing of perfect reciprocity. 

" The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to renew to 
Viscount Palmerston the assurance of his distinguished consid- 
eration. George Bancroft." 

U. S. Legation, London, Oct., 22, 1847. 



SPOILS OF warfare. 

Efforts have been made recentl}' to ridicule, in essay and argu- 
ment ; the feature of converting commercial steam ships into a 
Naval fleet, declaring such transformation impracticable. 

Suqh criticisms evidently comes from those whose nautical 
knowledge is influenced b}^ the limit of their experience, for noth- 
ing could be more fallacious. 

Consul Sprague pictures our dependent condition in the follow- 
ing report to the Department of State of the recent Egyptian war : 

" The war just terminated in Egypt, to an observer at Gibral- 
tar, aftbrds a very striking proof of the extent and great re- 
sources of Great Britain in whatever appertains to her steam marine 
service, as regards the transport of troops and munitions of war 
to whatever point the}- are required, and one cannot but admire 
the infinite number of magnificent and powerful steamers belong- 
ing to her merchant service which, for some time past, have been 
constantly communicating with this port, and which have sud- 
denly been converted into transports for even the reception of 
cavalry and everything else connected with that branch of service, 
working so smoothly and satisfactorily as to leave nothing to be 
desired; besides finding here a handy coaling station, which still 

^ See also the words of this veteran statesman in eulo2;y upon President Lincoln. 
12 H 



178 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

continues to keep up its reputation both as regards n:ioderate 
prices for steam coal and the expeditious dispatch it affords for 
the coaling of steamers." 

Let us remember, also, the great war indemnity of France. 

The national advantages coatributed by a Merchant Marine 
are incalculable, but they may fairly indicated — 

As adding to our defense ; 

As establishing political power ; 

As facilitating diplomacy ; 

As auxiliarating our ]N"avy ; 

As employing our people ; 

As developing our ingenuity. 

As a safe guard against home dissention and civil strife — an 
olive branch between capital and labor ; the cementation of local. 

Let the patriotic caution of President Tyler be recalled : 

" I cannot too strongly urge the policy of authorizing the 
establishment of a line of steam ships regularly to ply between 
this country and foreign ports, and upon our own waters for the 
transportation of the mail. The example of the British Govern- 
ment is well worthy of imitation in this respect. The belief is 
strongly entertained that the emoluments arising from the trans- 
portation of mail matter to foreign countries would operate of 
itself as an inducement to cause individual enterprise to under- 
take that branch of the task, and the remuneration of the 
Government would consist in the addition readily made to our 
steam navy in case of emergency by the ships so employed. 
Should this suggestion meet your approval, the propriety of 
placing such ships under the commmand of experienced officers 
of the navy will not escape your observation.^ The application 
of steam to the purposes of naval warfare cogently recommends 
an extensive steam marine as important in estimating the de- 
fences of the country. Fortunately this may be attained by us 
to a great extent without incurring any large amounts of expen- 
diture. Steam vessels to be engaged in the transportation of the 
mails on our principal water-courses, lakes, and parts of our coast, 
could also be so constructed as to be efficient as war vessels when 
needed, and would, of themselves, constitute a formidable force 
in order to repel attacks from abroad. We cannot be blind to 
the fact that other nations have already added large numbers of 
steamships to their naval armaments, and that this new and 
powerful agent is destined to revolutionize the condition of the 
world. It becomes the United States, therefore, looking to their 
security to adopt a similar policy, and the plan suggested will 
enable them to do so at a small comparative cost. 

" Wi^suiNGTON, December 3, 1844. John Tyler." 

1 See Nautical Education. 



Progression and Retrogre 



Exhibit of ''Bounties'' or '' Subsidies'' paid by the United States and Gre 

(FROM 0F> 



Years. 



Total amount 
paid by the 



1848- 

1849- 

1850- 

1851- 

1852- 

1853- 

1854- 

1855- 

1856- 

1857- 

1858- 

1859- 

1860-. 

1861- 

1862-. 

1863-. 

1864-. 

1865- 

1866- 

1867- 

1868- 

1869- 

1870- 

1871- 

1872- 

1873- 

1874- 

1875- 

1876- 

1877- 

1878- 

1879- 

1880- 

1881- 

1882- 

Total 



$100,500 
235,086 
619,924 
1,465,818 
1,655,241 
1,880,273 
1,903,286 
1,936,715 
1,886,766 
1,589,153 
1,211,061 
1,204,569 
854,329 
806,885 
374,618 
416,075 
440,440 
475,428 
713,928 
867,203 
1,016,146 
1,101,689 
1,115,333 
975,025 
1,026,891 
1,044,157 
988,393 
976,644 
753,610 
448,896 
199,979 
200,026 
199,809 
240,067 
200,500 



Am't paid ves- 
sels sailing un- 
der American 
flno- 1 



$31,204,463 



$100,500 

235,086 

619,924 

1,465,818 

1,655,241 

1,880,273 

1,903,286 

1,936,715 

1,886,766 

1,589,153 

1,177,303 

1,079,220 

707,244 

570,952 

80,686 

79,398 

64,356 

66,571 

245,605 

411,065 

625,239 

757,963 

791,388 

799,662 

805,788 

815,400 

750,295 

740,360 

580,062 

286,834 

40,152 

41,251 

38,779 

42,553 

40,645 



$24,911,534 



Bounty or sub- 
sidy paid to 
foreign flag 
by the U. S.2 



American Bounty to British Ships. 



$33,758 

125,349 

147,085 

235,933 

293,932 

336,677 

376,084 

408,857 

468,324 

456,138 

390,907 

343,726 

323,945 

175,463 

221,003 

225,757 

238,098 

236,283 

173,548 

162,062 

159,827 

158,775 

161,030 

197,514 

239,855 



$6,293,929 



Total British Bounty since 1848 

Total American "Bounty " or " Mail Pay 



Bounty or sub- 
sidy paid Bri- 
tish ships by 
British G'v't.^ 



$3,250,000 
3,180,000 
5,313,985 
5,330,000 
5,510,635 
5,805,400 
5,950,559 
5,741,633 
5,713,560 
5,133,485 
4,679,415 
4,740,190 
4,349,760 
4,703,285 
4,105,353 
4,188,275 
4,503,050 
3,981,995 
4,227,018 
4,079,966 
4,047,586 
5,481,690 
6,107,761 
6,070,741 
5,693,500 
5,665,296 
5,697,346 
4,860,000 
4,420,261 
3,976,580 
3,914,990 
3,768,230 
3,873,130 
3,601,350 
3,538,835 



163,653,356 
6,293,929 



169,947,285 
24,911,534 



British Subsidy in excess of American since 1848- 145,035,751 
Grant asked for in " British Estimates," (p. 677,) for 1883, 
$3,552,570. ^ KF ,j 



SIGN OF American Mail Ships. 



t Britain compared with Percentage of Steam Tonnage and Value of Products. 

:CIAL RETURNS.) 



rican 

im. 

age.* 



M,758 

)1,137 

)8,401 

!7,083 

!0,408 

2,819 

8,565 

•6,G34 

3,236 

i 0,027 

,8,311 

,'5,626 

1 1,920 

l' 7,892 

:l6,456 

i 1,527 

11,916 

'10,192 

'•5,747 

1,734 

,0,513 

12,103 

'.8,114 

s,459 

'■'.,900 

0,578 

^[j,790 



Foreign 

steam. 

Tonnage.* 



120,655 
282,875 
254,748 
339,016 
391,016 
418,778 
409,650 
540,549 
729,730 
642,576 
1,062,159 
1,227,120 
1,354,718 
1,572,914 
1,680,704 
1,882,437 
2,341,358 
2,871,308 
3,285,128 
3,142,723 
3,319,053 
3,432,487 
4,172,467 
5,362,944 
6,391,126 
7,487,110 
7,163,237 



bfi he 

G O 
o . 



65 
41 
45 
40 
37 
33 
17 
16 
17 
26 
21 

24 

25 

21 

33 

29 

26 

23 

24 

26 

25 

24 

21 

17 

15 

14 

15 



Ph,2 



35 

59 

55 

60 

63 

67 

83 

84 

83 

74 

79 

76 

75 

79 

67 

71 

74 

77 

76 

74 

75 

76 

79 

83 

85 

86 

85 



Value of Total Imports and 
Exports of the United States. 



In American 
shins.* 



In Foreign 
shins.* 



$238,305,163 
220,915,275 
239,272,084 
316,107,232 
294,735,404 
346,717,127 
406,698,539 
405,485,462 
482,268,274 
510,331,027 
447,191,304 
465,741,381 
507,247,757 
381,516,788 
217,695,418 
241,872,471 
184,061,486 
167,402,872 
325,711,861 
296,998,387 
297,981,573 
289,956,772 
352,969,607 
353,664,172 
345,331,101 
346,306,597 
350,451,994 
314,257,792 
311,076,171 
316,660,281 
313,050,906 
272,015,692 
280,005.097 
238,080^603 
242,850^815 



170,725,896 
72,697,984 
90,764,954 
118,505,711 
123,219,817 
152,237,677 
170,591,875 
131,139,904 
159,336,576 
213,519,796 
160,066,267 
229,816,211 
255,040,693 
203,478,278 
218,015,296 
343,056,031 
485,793,548 
437,010,124 
685,226,691 
580,022,004 
650,546,074 
586,492,012 
638,927,282 
755,822,576 
839,346,362 
966,722,651 
939,206,106 
884,788,517 
813,345,987 
859,920,536 
876,991,129 
911,269,232 
1,309,466,796 
1,378,556,017 
1,284,488,861 



§2 



1m official report by United States Postmaster General, 1883. 
^ult of Postmaster General's figures. 

rm British Parliamentary papers and " Finance Accounts," not includinff 
• Mail Pay" for letters. 

?cial figures, Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department. 



Years. 



77.4 


1848 


75.2 


1849 


72.5 


1850 


72.7 


1851 


70.5 


1852 


69.5 


1853 


70.5 


1854 


75.6 


1855 


75.2 


1856 


70.5 


1857 


73.7 


1858 


66.9 


1859 


66.5 


1860 


65.2 


1861 


50.0 


1862 


41.4 


1863 


27.5 


1864 


27.7 


1865 


32.3 


1866 


33.9 


1867 


35.1 


1868 


33.1 


1869 


35.6 


1870 


31.8 


1871 


29.1 


1872 


26.4 


1873 


27.2 


1874 


26.2 


1875 


27.7 


1876 


26.9 


1877 


263 


1878 


23.0 


1879 


17.6 


1880 


16.0 


1881 


15.5 


1882 



FREE TRADE! F REE SHIPS ! FREE BOOTY! 

American Navy Yards Closed by Free Congress ! 

American Ship Yards Closed by the (Free) British Lloyds ! 
AMERICAN SHORES BESEIGED BY FREE IRON GLADS! 

1884=- 




Foreign Booty and American Ridicule, Distress, and Ruin \ 

WHEX FALLS OUR XAVY— OUR XATIOX FALLS ! 

(179) 



STARTLING PROPHECY 

OF 

MADISON OF VIRGINIA, AND KING OF GEORGIA. 

Warmng of James Madison. 

(May 13, 1790, Annals of Congress, page 1572.) 

Mr. Madison spoke of — 

'' The objections from the Southern States, which are so deeply 
connected with the British; * * * it is to be lamented 
that means calculated to promote the general good should mil- 
itate with any particular interest; a maritime force, in case of 
Avar, is the only hope of the Southern States; not that I am 
in favor of a Navy, but the eligibility of an increase of those resources 
ivhich ynight be converted into such a marine force as would be 
absolutely necessar}^ in such an emergency, must be obvious to 
every one. 

" In case of war the Southern States would be the first object of 
attack." 

Foresight of Thomas Butler King. 

Mr. King said, in 1846 : 

*' G-reat Britain is thus enabled by confining commercial enterprise with her 
jN'aval armaments, to keep afloat a Steam force more than equal to one-half of our 
ships in commission, and to maintain twenty of these powerful Steamers in con- 
stant and active service at a cost of one million dollars annuall}^ By the Cunard 
and "West India" lines of mail Steamers, Great Britain maintains rapid and 
certain communication with her colonies on this side of the Atlantic, the United 
States, Mexico, and her fleets in the Pacific Ocean. 

" In the event of war she could readily command this force and concentrate it 
at any point upon our Atlantic or Gulf coast, and our vast commerce valued at 
some 1200,000,000 would, without suitable preparation on our part, fall a prey to 
her arms. It is mortifying to reflect that this force which may become so for- 
midable against us, is in a great degree supported by the intercourse growing out 
of our own commercial enterprise. While our commercial marine is unrivalled, 
and our sails whiten every ocean, and our Steam Marine at home superior to that 
of all other Nations, we have been left in the distance and out manoeuvred by 
our great commercial rival in the employment of steam upon the ocean. 

" If it be asked why Great Britain has thus taken the lead of us in Ocean Steam 
2^avigation while we are so greatly superior in domestic steamers and sailing ships ? 
the answer is that she has anticipated us through the extension of her mail sys- 
tem to foreign 90untries in combination with her naval arrangements, thus ren- 
dering it almost impossible for mere private enterprise to enter into competition 
with her. 

" France also has become alive to the importance of this great system, and her 
Ministers of Finance has been authorized to treat with companies for the establish- 
ment of lines of steamers to Brazil, Havana, New York, La Plata, La Guayra, 
and such ports in the Gulf of Mexico and the Antillas, as may be designated by 
royal ordinance." 

(180) 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 181 



J.OYDS MONOPOLY. 



Throughout this argument there has been made allegation of 
au existing monopoly operating against American ships in the 
organization known as the British Lloj^cls — a combination that 
strangles American Shipping; a triumvirate of British Ship- 
builders, Shipowners, and Underwriters — so-called from the fact 
that their organization began in a "coiFee house" of London, 
kept by one " Lloj^d," and who adopted a system of mutual 
insurance between themselves to arrange for the mutual pro- 
tection of their ships and cargoes^ or shares thereof, "pooling" 
gains and losses jxro rata. 

"Only members of Lloyds are allowed the benefits, protection, and informa- 
tion furnished daily by agents appointed for the purpose, and there is scarcely 
a port of consequence in the world where one is not stationed." ^^ British Con- 
suls are alloioed to serve as [these) agents^" also, ^'•for (British) navigation com- 
panies.''^ 

Xot only this, but, as has been shown in preceding pages, 
Lloyds agents are the officiall}^ patronized agents of the British 
Government. Such agents very generally being the regular 
Consular Corps of the United Kingdom, as, in fact, paragraph 
20 of British Consular Regulations directs that their Consuls act 
in such capacity. 

The enormous magnitude of this monopoly has been frequently 
pointed out by the writer in works upon American Shipping, 
and the powerful chain of influence, and its practical working, 
will be seen on the back of the illustration, (p. 168,) beginning 
this division of argument, and as United States Consul Morey 
(there) says it will not be until " invoices contain the clause 
* Insurance provided in America ' that our ships will be able to 
pick up some of these freights." 

The grand American ship the " City of Peking " was so mis- 
represented and vilified by British Lloyds Agents in Asiatic 
ports that her owners were forced at Hong Kong to the expense 
of docking, etc., when there w^as nothing found to justify the 
action but rivalry and prejudice. The writer is personally 
aware that insurance was then cabled from American insurance 
houses, and the confidence of shippers restored. The black- 
mailing process, however, did great harm at the time, although 
she is to-day the peer of any ocean Steamship. It is this defama- 



182 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

tion in rivalry^ together with national aid to foreign shipping^ that drives 
freight from American ships. Every new ship is strained by her 
first hard voyage, and there is not a large ship o'Clyde that has 
not undergone repairs thereafter. Our Consuls in France write 
that "French Shipowners have found that the less cost is soon 
made up by nifjnerous and expensive repairs." (See page 186.) 

But not content with this monopoly, the Lloyds are casting 
out their terrible grapnels of sophistry and cunning to inveigle 
the credulous, or willing official, or unofficial, victims that may 
be instrumental in this grand absorption of the shipping of the 
world. 

This fact is so often disputed, so often ridiculed and belittled, 
that the following bold presumption in official form is submitted 
to the American people as the " coronation act " in Shipping 

Monopoly, and in evidence of British contempt for American 
foresight, or American spirit : ^ 

[Seal or Lloyds.] 
(Verbatim copy.) " Lloyds, 14th November 1882. 

" Sir : I am instructed by the Committee of Lloyds to inform you that at every 
port in the United Kingdom and other countries of the world there is stationed 
a Lloyds Agent. These Lloyds Agents are selected for their respectability and 
commercial capacity by a committee, consisting not only of members of Lloyds, 
but also of the representatives of the Marine Insurance Companies of London, as 
well as of the Shipowners' Association and the Underwriters' Associations of 
Glasgow and Liverpool. 

[If a more gigantic Credit Mobilier has ever or could ever exist, it is hard to 
conceive it possible !] 

1 The remarkable bitter spirit displayed by many British journals against all 
American writers who fearlessly exhibit our true industrial relations with foreign 
nations and conditions at home, pointing out the " breakers ahead " in such 
politico-economic questions, is so marked in contrast with the palaver in praise 
surfeited upon any nonsense or stereotyped fallacy rewritten by pseudo or theo- 
retical American writers or agents, that it should be sufficient to warn the Ameri- 
can people of the pitfall in advance. 

A striking illustration of the former in ribaldry paragraphs, and without truth 
or logic to mark a purpose, is to be found in the January issue of the British Trade 
Journal against the writer for his Argument on Tariff in behalf of the Metro- 
politan Industrial League of New York. There are many exceptions however, 
and the character of foreign journals is as carefully criticised in America as 
abroad ; therefore it is not surprising of late to miss the logical discussions of 
Mabson from that Trade Journal, since the recent change of system in the adop- 
tion of an economical policy in management, editorialism, and, naturally, in 
pith or truth of argument. "What a contrast to the logical reasoning in the 
discussions of the Fellows of the Statistical Society 1 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 183 

" It is thus believed tliat the amount of experience and knowledge of the Com- 
mittee answer that Lloyds Agents so selected are most respectable and capable in 
•every way. 

"I am accordingly to suggest to you that, in making the appointment of Con- 
sular or Yice-Consular officers at the various ports of Great Britain and Ireland, 
it might possibly be desirable that, when all other claims are equal, [this is un- 
■questionably excellent,] a preference should be given to a Lloyds Agent ; and I 
am to say that, should you see your way to the adoption of this suggestion, the 
Committee of Lloyds, in case of any application to them, will be most happy to 
Afford you confidentially (?) the most complete information in their power, with 
regard to any of their agents respecting whom you might wish to inquire. 
" I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

" HENKY M. HOZIER, Secretary. 

" To Consul-Gexep.al for the United States, 



There is nothing mean about this — nothing half-way or half- 
said. It is fresh, clear, complete, and refreshing, and it is sen- 
sible ! ! The Lloyds (in London) know every night every 
<jommercial event of the day in every part of the world, and 
know fall well that our Congress starves our Consuls and taxes 
the profits of American ships, with a view to their destruction. 
Why should not they, (the Lloyds) therefore, with impunity, ask 
outright, officially, that these poor Consular servants be at least 
relieved from suffering and mortification — to which politics and 
ignorance led them — and offer to our statesmen as substitutes 
Xloyds Agents, who could, with better grace and greater gusto, 
:fleece the poor dying American shipowner, or kill him out- 
right ? 

The Circular is not meant for brazen presumption, assump- 
tion, nor, to use an Americanism, " bald cheek," it is the voice 
:and the assurance of Congress that has warranted this most re- 
markable and unique proposal of the Lloyds to convert itself into 
the United States Department of State. 

It will not, however, be a mere demand for a" Free Ship Plank " 
in our political platforms, but a demand upon our next President- 
elect, that a "Lloyds Agent" be made Premier of the United 
States, to destroy completely American Shipping. 

Here is evidence direct. No longer can Congress deny the 
-existence of this quadruple-bodied commercial anaconda, that 
<encoils our ships like the poor Laocoon, and that strangles the 
Tery life of our Merchant Marine. 



THE FRIEND OF AMERICAN SHIPPING 

IN THE PAST, 




DE WITT CLmTON. 

1810. 
(See Canal Shipping, following pages.) 



(184) 



In these pages the truth is laid before you in the " repetition 
of history " for over two centuries. 
It is the same story of — 

BURDEN, BOUNTY, AND BOOTY. 

Governor Winthrop wrote in his private journal, as early as 
1613: 

" The great fear of want of foreign commodities, now our 
money was gone, and that things were likely to go well with 
England, set us all to working to provide shipping of our own, 
for which end Mr. Peters, being a man of very public spirit and 
of singular activity for all occasions, procured some to join for 
building ships at Salem; and the inhabitants of Boston, stirred 
by his example, set upon the building of more at Boston. 

" This work was hard to accomplish for want of money, &c. ; 
but our shipwrights were content to take such pay as the country 
could make." 

Thus the art of ship-building developed early and rapidly, 
bringing our country into recognition and power abroad. 

Washington pleaded, and led our fathers to battle, to protect 
the Industry and honor which has been trifled away by delay and 
indecision. 

Jeiferson, Randolph, Pickering proclaimed in State papers the 
exact conditions that enslave us in our Shipping to-day. 

Madison, Monroe, and Jackson each repeated and asked 
you to remember the principles that had been taught by hard- 
fought and sanguinary struggles. 

Tyler, Polk, and Buchanan moved forward to meet our great 
rivals in industrial contest — when force foiled their booty — by 
a statesmanlike, hard, practical policy. 

The Prestige is ineftaceable ! The Decline has been the mis- 
taken policy — the false economy of Congress, which has been, in 
a great measure, the result of the misrepresentation of the dis- 
guised traitor in foreign interests. 

The Prospect is clear enough. Make American shipping pay 

as the wise statesmen of Great Britain make British shipping 

pay by a Mercantile Marine Board, and American shipbuihlers 

will outstrip the world. Let Congress try ! 

(185) 



186 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

Let our statesmen consider the wise suggestion in the following 
remarks in the United States Senate which illustrate the neces- 
sity for careful action of our national legislators : 

Mr. Morgan. Will the honorable Senator of Kentucky allow me to ask him, 
as a member of the Committee on Appropriations, for an explanation of a part of 
the bill which came from his committee, and which has not yet been explained. 

Mr. Beck. Certainly. 

Mr. Morgan. The bill as reported from the Committee on Appropriations 

contains this provision : 

"Proi/'ided, That the Postmaster General is authorized to pay the colonies of New Zealand and 
New South Wales so much of the cost of the overland ti-ansportation of the British closed mails 
to and from Australia a.^ he may deem just, not to exceed one half of the said cost, and the sum 
of $40,000 is hereby appropriated for that purpose." 

Is not that a subsidy ? 

]^ow the public do not understand that this sum of S40,000 is 
the cost of "mail pay" for transporting over land the British 
mail, (as received per steamship at Xew York,) to San Francisco. 
Then why not give this amount to our Mail Ships rather than to a 
foreign government ? 

And more particularly is the absurdity of our Statutes shown 
in the following : 

[Cong. Record, Feb. 14, 1881.] 

Mr. Morgan. I wish to ask the Senator from Delaware if the statutes as they 
now exist do not furnish full and unqualified opportunity to select between for- 
eign owned and foreign built ships, and American owned and American built 
ships for the transportation of the mails, and whether the $225,000 appropriated 
in this bill may not all of it he employed hy the Postmaster General at his own 
option in giving bounties, if he choose to give bounties, to British steamships, or to 
steamships of any other country in the transportation of the mails ? 

Here is exposed the weakness of our Statutes, the interlinea- 
tion — through the influence of foreign lobbyists — as also in sec- 
tions 3987 and 4009, denying a clearance to the United States 
Mail Steamers, explained on page 119. Our Revised Statutes are 
a mess of: — nobody has ever known what. Cannot Congress try 
again, patriotically, to codify our laws ? 

Let our people learn our true Shipping Conditions, past and 
present. 

As early as 1724, shipbuilding had become so important in 
Massachusetts that sixteen master builders of London petitioned 
the House of Lords " not to encourage shipbuilding in ]N"ew 
England," because workmen were drawn thither. 

Such action was repeated when the American ^' Clipper " be- 
came the pride of our country, and the champion ship of the 
world ; such was the cry when the great Collins steamships stim- 
ulated the British Government to grant increased subsidy to its 



HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 187 

Cunard line ; such histoid has heen repeated on every alarm from 
American shipbuilding enterprise, on every alarm from revival 
of shipbuilding in every other great country, and as recently as 
last 3^ear Prince Bismarck called the attention of his government 
officially to the fact that, although Great Britain has paid mil- 
lions upon millions yearly, and is still doing so, (see divisions of 
this argument under Bounty,) her people complain and cry aloud 
against other nations imitating the wisdom of British statesmen, 
-and the enterprise of British shipbuilders and ship owners in 
the following words : 

" In respect to this, mention was made in the debates that voices had already 
"been raised in England claiming that these bounties (of France) were considered 
as a violation of the right of natio7iat treatment due to the English flag, and that 
the case would lead to measures of reprisal." 

Was there ever anything more unreasonable ? And here is 
the latest evidence of the wisdom of France in this Act : 

^* U. S. Consul Taylor, Marseilles: 

" French owners are not entirelj'- satisfied with their experience of English- 
built ships, and have found out that, if their first cost is considerably less than in 
France, the difference is soon made up by the numerous and expennve repairs they 
require. 

" French ships are now acknowledged to be better finished, and the machinery 
is built with a more careful view to economy of fuel, which is an important point 
in this country, (France,) where coal costs about three times as much as in Eng- 
land." 

After detailing proof by statistics and facts, Consul Taylor 
wa'ites : 

"Thus we see that the Merchant Marine Law has fairly fulfilled its intended 
object in promoting the shipping interests, and bids fair to prove also a success in 
promoting the building interests. 

^- * * -K- ^ ^ ^ if. 

"There can be no room for doubt that all these new, swift, and beautiful steam- 
ers (those of the new French shipyards) must eventually become the most effi- 
■cient." 

TJ. S. Consul Crain, of Milan, reports officially that the spirit 
and recognition of the necessity of home ship-building has be- 
come positive action in Italy, and adds : 

" A deep conviction possesses the Italian mind that a nation to he truly greai, 
•coynm^er dally and politically , must be strong in ships and steamers ; that its own 
flag must pioneer its trade; that a strong mercantile marine is the necessary ad- 
junct of a strong navy, and that both give weight at the council board of nations. 
The lessons of Tunis and Alexandria will strengthen this conviction." 

Thus, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, and all the principal 
nations of the world, are aroused and acting, while we of the 
United States are sleeping. 



188 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

The influence of such unreasonable policy of monopoly by 
Great Britain of the Shipping of the world has been, however, 
and is to-day, made manifest in every public council, and seems 
very apparent in the tenor of the Select Committee's remarkable 
Questions, herein noted. 

In anticipation of the disruption of our Union — identified with 
England in our commercial relations, by advancements in 
marketing cotton, and in foreign education of our youtli — the 
South unfortunately sided with the opponents of American In- 
dustry, but as open, honest enemies — not in duplicity or pretend- 
ing the economic ; that part of history, however, has gone with 
the solemn associations of the past and with the holy dead, 
whose noble souls were immolated on the altar of Southern 
domesticity, and scarcely enshrouded in pages of history, toa 
hallowed and painful to be repeated. 

The new South has no new love, but a new zeal and clearer fore- 
sight. With new conditions in industry we have new purposes 
and new incentives. It is a new page of history that the South 
purposes hereafter to record — of manufacture at home, of ship- 
building at home, of trade carrying in the vehicles of Amer- 
ican genius, and labor created, and under our national insignia 
transported. 

There is nothing mean about the American people — ^orth. 
South, East, or West — there is nothing they despise like mean- 
ness. They are not too mean to pay for that birthright of the 
American ship, or even battle for that right. 

Who is ashamed of ocean mail pay — or of paying for the ocean 
mail carrying — a principle that has been recommended and urged 
by every President and patriot ! Call it subsidy, or by what 
term may be preferred, in derision by him who tries to ridicule 
American Industry ; but who becomes thereb}^ himself a shame 
upon American character by his action in endeavoring to humili- 
ate the condition of American Shipping. 



THE PROSPECT. 

•' Shall Americans Build Ships?" 

LAUNCH ON THE DELAWARE. 




VOX POPULI,-1884. 



"Americans Can and Will Build Ships." 




Iron and Steel— the Best in the World. 

And give employment to the woodman, forest-owner, miner, mine-owner, laborer, 
carpenter, blacksmith, fitter, joiner, calker, moulder, painter, sail-maker, rigger, boilei 
and engine-maker, draftsman, chandler, sailor, engineer, furniture and cutlery dealer, 
cotton and blanket supplier, table provider, looking-glass maker, crockery and fine deco- 
rator, wine dealer, waiter, clerk, and agent. 

" Let Carthage be destroyed ! " was the cry of Cato before the Roman Senate. 
" Let American Shipping be destroyed ! " is the motto of agents of foreign shipping before 
the American Congress. 

(189) 



THE PALACE STEAMBOAT OF THE WORLD, 



iiiiPMiiiia^^^^ 




Bil 



illllllllllllllllllllllllllilillillllllllMlNMilHIllllMlimillim^ UllMMMiiyira 



THE "PILGRIM," 

OF THE 

OLD COLONY LINE. 

Built 1883. Length, 384 feet. Breadth, 87 feet 
(See following pages for history of Sound Shipping. 



(190) 



PART SECOND, 



CONDITIONS 



COASTWISE AND INLAND 

SHIPPING. 



DIVISION OF ARGUMENT 

Atlantic and Pacific Coast. 

Fisheries. 

Canal. 

Lake. 

River. 



(191) 



RIVER SHIPPING 



HIGH PRESSURE ) 




"ROBERT E. LEE," 

The Pride of the Mississippi Valley. 
(See following pages for full history of river steamboats, etc.) 



(192) 



CONDITIONS 



OF OUR 



COASTWISE SHIPPING 



''Our Coasting Trade," said Jefferson in his report to Congress 
February 2, 1801, "is on a safe footing." Such condition is the 
"repeated history" of to-day, due solely to the wise Navigation 
laws of our forefathers ^ of 1789. To consider these conditions 
properly, we must look at the extent thereof, which, distinctly 
stated, is as follows: 

3files. 

Length of the Atlantic coast from the mouth of the St. Croix to the St. Mary's River 1,450 

Length of the Atlantic coast from St. Mary's River to Cape of Florida 450 

Length of Gulf coast from Cape of Florida to the mouth of the Sabine River 1,200 

Length of Gulf coast acquired by annexation of Texas, from the Sabine to the Rio Grande 400 
Length of Pacific coast— in California, 970; in Oregon, 600; Straits of Juan de Fuca, 150.... 1,620 

Total 5,120 

To which, if we add our Lake coast 1,500 

We have a total Coasting Trade of 6,620 

There is nothing, probably, so much envied by the principal 
nations of the world, especially by Great Britain; nothing that 
has been so successfully preserved strictly domestic, and thus 
protected from the monopoly of the subsidized power of the 
Exchequer of the latter country — that has bought out our carry- 
ing trade to foreign countries, and reduced us to dependence 
and shame — there is nothing so coveted, nothing that has so 
chagrined our industrial rivals, nothing more perplexing as a 
commercial problem to solve, than " how to grasp from us our 
Coastwise Trade." 



For the continuation of this and Parts 3 and 4, see completed volume, ex- 
^ plained on following page (194.) 



^ See pages 23-25 for full discussion of these facts, 
13 H (193) 



194 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. 

This work, complete, is of 500 octavo pages, and will be hand- 
somely bound and fully illustrated. It is purely a labor con amove, 
from a knowledge of the great importance of this economic — 
paramount to all others — of our country so little understood, and 
so generally misunderstood. 

The following pages of this history embrace : 

Part 2. 

Our Coastwise Conditions, continued — 

A full history of our 

Atlantic and Pacific Coastwise Shipping. 
Fishery Shipping. 
Canal Shipping. 
Lake and 
Eiver Shipping. 

Part 3. 

Our Commercial Treaties — 

A full review of these conditions and record of Treaties of the 

United States, also of Great Britain. 
Consular Conditions Compared — a parallel comparison of these 

Fees, of the five principal nations. 

Part 4. 

Policies of Foreign ]!!^ations in Merchant Shipping. 

Admeasurement Laws Compared. 
Shipping Fees Compared. 
Nautical Education Compared. 
Mail Bounties of the World Compared. 



Orders upon Appleton & Co., 

The American News Co., or 
The Union News Co., 
for this work can he left with Book-dealers in anv city in the United States. 



History 



OF 



American Shipping. 

A 

BOOK FOR THE PEOPLE! 

NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST. 

No Politico-Economic subject is of greater importance to the people 
of this country than that of 

MERCHANT SHIPPING. 

THIS BOOK SHOULD COMMMAND THE ATfENTION OF ALL. 



No subject is so little undersood, or so much misunderstood. It is here 
set forth in a complete, clear, and concise manner, with much inter- 
est to every class of readers. The author has adopted the pop- 
ular and powerful medium of illustration to gaiij through 
the eye, the mind of the masses who are generally 
indifferent to the study and consideration of 

STATISTICAL WORKS. 



It is the Book of all Books to be read To-Day. 



TRADE SUPPLIED BY 

THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY, 
Ntw York. 



DAVIS COLLAMORE & CO. 

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The New York Life Insurance Co., 



AN OLD COMPANY. 

Organized 1845. Purely Mutual. 

(no stockholders.) 
Dividends Annually. 

A LARGE COMPANY. 

Policies issued. - - - over 132,000 
Insurance in force, - - $128,000,000 


A STRONG COMPANY. 

Accumulated Assets, - over $37,000,000.00 
Yearly Income, ■ - over $7,500,000 cash 
SURPLUS, - - - - over $6,000,000 

BY NEW YORK STATE STANDARD. 




A PROGRESSIVE 
COMPANY. 

The Thirty-third Anmtal Re- 
port, 1878, shows an increase 
of Assets ; an increase of Sur- 
plus ; an increase in numher of 
Policies in force and. amount 
insured, over previous years. 



The Company's Building and Home OfiBce, 346 &'34;8, Broadway, 



THE J^EW YORK LIFE INSUR- 
ANCE COMPANY completed the^ 
thirty-third year of its existence^ 
January 1, 1878. At that time its his 
tory was in brief and in round numbers 
as follows : 



The acceptance of One Hundred and Thirty-tvro Thousand Memlbers (so dis- 
tributed over the healthful sections of the WORIiD, that the most favorable average results- 
Df mortality are obtained); the receipt of Seventy-four Million Dollars in Premiums^ 
the payment of nearly Eighteen Million Dollars in Policy-claims to the representatives 
of the insured, and upward of Twenty-five Million Dollars in returned premiums and 
Dividends. During this period the Assets have augmented constantly, and offer ahsolute 
security in the sum of Thirty-five Million Dollars, safely invested and increasing. The 
present condition of the Company, and the magnitude of its business annually, are shown in 
detail by the Annual Report. 

^Ig;;^::::^ ATTFMTIOM is invited to the significant fact that, at several periods in 
I^N^ n I I LIN I lUIN the history of this Company, its INTEREST earnings 
alone have been suflScient to pay the DEATH-CLiAIMS maturing under its policies. 

EXAMPLE. 



Death-Claims paid, 1875, $1,534,815 

Death-Claims paid, 1876 1,547,648 

Death-Claims paid, 1877 1,638,138 



Income from Interest, 1875 $1,870,65» 

Income from Interest, 187(5 1,906,950 

Income fi-om Interest, 1877 1,867,457 



Such excellence can be attained only by the greatest care in selection of risks and most judicious 

investment of funds. 

JS^ The advantages offered hy this Company to those desiring liife Insnr* 
ance are unsurpassed hy any other Institution of tlie kind. 

The great experience of its officers and managers renders it one of the strongest, 
most prosperous, and most trustworthy companies in the world. 

Having always been a purely mutual Compa'ny, policy-holders receive their insurance at 
cost, and being ably and economically managed, that cost is low. The Company is conducted 
in the interest of policy-holders alone. In the decision of questions involving their rights the 
invariable rule is to consider not alone the technical legality of a claim, but its real justice. 

The non-forfeiture system of policies originated with this Company, in 1860, and has since 
been adopted— though sometimes in questionable forms— bv all other companies. This fea- 
ture saves millions of dollars every year to policy-holders in this country, 
and for this they are indebted to the IVEW YORK. lilFE. The system as now 
perfected by the NEW YORK LIFE, secures safety to the Company (without which all 
interests are jeopardized,) and JUSTICE to the insured. Every desirable form of policy 
issued, on practical plans and favorable terms. 

MORRIS FRANKLIN, President. WM. H. BEERS, Vice-President and Actuary, 



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